Politics
Mike Tyson Tells Trump To Reschedule Marijuana And Free Prisoners In Fox News Appearance
Retired boxer Mike Tyson has delivered his message to reschedule, and ultimately legalize, marijuana to President Donald Trump on one of his most-watched TV networks: Fox News.
Days after leading a letter alongside other professional athletes and celebrities promoting cannabis reform that was sent to Trump on Friday, Tyson joined FOX & Friends on Monday where he made made the case for rescheduling marijuana, expanding clemency and allowing licensed cannabis businesses to access the banking system.
“Cannabis is in the same category as heroin. How do you categorize it with heroin?” he said. “Anybody that ever smoked cannabis knows there’s no comparison and that it’s just ridiculous.”
Tyson reiterated his support for moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—a reform that was initiated under the Biden administration but has since stalled at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). And he also stressed the economic opportunity of changing federal marijuana laws for state-licensed businesses.
“There’s over 500,000 people that can’t get loans in the cannabis business alone, and that’s just so ridiculous,” Tyson, who owns the marijuana company Tyson 2.0, said. “It’s such a great income for the country. And I just can’t see it. It’s ridiculous.”
He added that advocates are “also working on clemency, because there’s people that still in prison—been in there for 15 years, got enormous amount of time and ridiculous sentences—for cannabis.”
Tyson also argued that “the first mistake that we’re making is categorizing [marijuana] as a drug. It’s not a drug. It’s a medicine.” And he said his personal experience with cannabis is a testament to that, pointing out that he was “going crazy” as a young adult before he started consuming marijuana for its therapeutic benefits.
Asked whether he feels the plant should be fully legalized nationwide, Tyson said “100 percent yes,” in large part because “the time and the sentences” that people criminalized over cannabis have received are “just totally ridiculous.”
The boxer cited the criminal justice reform advocate and former federal cannabis prisoner Weldon Angelos as an example. Angelos helped organize the letter to Trump, who pardoned him over a cannabis-related offense during his first term.
Tyson, along with Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, also recently toured a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lab. And during his Fox News interview, he echoed points from that tour, asserting that illicit operators from China and Mexico are “filling our cannabis with fentanyl and pesticides and all that stuff, and it’s just killing human beings.”
Throughout the talk, Tyson stressed that he feels “cannabis is not a drug.”
“No one’s ever [overdosed from cannabis,” he said. People drink. How many people die drinking? You put a bunch of people that don’t like each other in the room and give them alcohol and they kill each other. You give them some cannabis and they start taking selfies or whatever.”
The interview comes about a week after Trump’s first pick for attorney general in the current administration, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.
On marijuana rescheduling, the president did endorse the policy change on the campaign trail. But he’s been publicly silent on the issue since taking office. Gaetz said last month that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.
A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. And, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.
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Meanwhile, Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.
Adding to the uncertainty around the fate of the rescheduling proposal, Trump’s nominee to lead DEA, Terrance Cole, has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.
During an in-person hearing before the Judiciary Committee in April, Cole said examining the rescheduling proposal will be “one of my first priorities” if he was confirmed for the role, saying it’s “time to move forward” on the stalled process—but again without clarifying what end result he would like to see.
DEA recently notified an agency judge that the proceedings are still on hold—with no future actions currently scheduled. The matter sat without action before an acting administrator, Derek Maltz, who has called cannabis a “gateway drug” and linked its use to psychosis. Maltz has since left the position.
Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.
Image element courtesy of Super Festivals.
