Bernie Sanders Still Strong on Criminal Justice Reform After Leading a National Poll for the First Time

   
| February 18, 2016 10:05 pm | 0 comments

Bernie Sanders continued the messages and policy proposals that have helped him surge in the polls in tonight’s MSNBC Democratic Town Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike some politicians that tend to “play it safe” when taking a lead in a poll, Senator Sanders stayed consistent on marijuana legalization and criminal justice reform after taking questions from the town hall audience members. (Marijuana Majority’s Tom Angell blogged the town hall tonight, so I’ve embedded some of his tweets.)

Knowing Senator Sanders’ history, it shouldn’t have surprised me to hear a strong, mainstream presidential candidate forcefully call for racial and criminal justice policy reforms, including stopping the use of private prisons; demilitarizing local law enforcement; federal investigations of police brutality; and ending federal cannabis prohibition by removing marijuana from the list of controlled substances. I was still somewhat taken aback when I heard the anti-establishment candidate take on the prison-industrial-complex and the New Jim Crow policies that have decimated black communities, and the poor of every color.

Even a Sanders supporter like myself is too used to politics as usual, that I almost expected the Vermont Senator to shy away from mentioning marijuana after taking a lead in a major national poll for the first time. It could be a testament to his consistent nature or good political instincts, Senator Sanders stuck by his bold Drug War and criminal justice policy reforms.

Marijuana legalization and racial justice policies are good for Sanders politically as well, as the issues are extremely popular with Democrats, millennial voters and independents. Bernie Sanders was advocating for important, sound criminal justice policies, just as he has throughout the campaign, while enjoying the opportunity play good politics as well, making him the winner of the town hall tonight, simply by staying consistent to his principles.