Kamala Harris to push for thousands to have their marijuana records expunged with Fat Joe: VP and rapper to host roundtable after Biden asked for review into weed classification

Vice President Kamala Harris will host an event with rapper Fat Joe highlighting the importance of marijuana sentencing reform at the White House on Friday. 

The vice president is hosting a roundtable to discuss reform efforts, including ways to lift penalties and convictions for people serving prison sentences for using or possessing the drug.

Harris is leading the meeting despite a long history of prosecuting marijuana users and possessors as a district attorney of San Francisco and also enforcing laws criminalizing marijuana when she was the attorney general of the state of California. 

Harris will host a discussion about marijuana at the White House

Rapper Fat Joe will attend the event to discuss the effects of criminal sentencing for marijuana use and possession 

The meeting is seen as part of a widespread marijuana reform effort by the Biden campaign, as they seek to motivate young voters and people of color in the 2024 election.

The Biden administration has already moved to reclassify marijuana at the federal level from a schedule one drug to a schedule three, making it easier for the marijuana industry to sell legally.

Biden called for the government to begin expunging thousands of convictions for the use or possession of marijuana, during his State of the Union address last week.

'[N]o one should be jailed for simply using or have it on their record,' Biden said.

The event will highlight individuals who benefited from Biden's 2022 pardon of individuals with federal marijuana convictions.

Harris will also meet with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D), who signed legislation last year to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Beshear is now pushing to expand the number of medical conditions to allow people in the state to legally use the drug.

Fat Joe addresses attendees at the the Power To The Patients Event on Tuesday, March 5

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will join Kamala Harris for the roundtable event at the White House

President Joe Biden has gradually embraced the idea of loosening punishments for marijuana users

Harris has a long history of opposing the recreational use of marijuana until the political environment made it acceptable.   

As district attorney of San Francisco, Harris oversaw 1,900 convictions for marijuana offenses. 

While running for Attorney General, Harris opposed a 2010 California ballot proposition that would legalize marijuana.

Harris publicly admitted smoking marijuana in college during her 2020 presidential campaign and endorsed making it legal at the federal level.

"I think that it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy," she said during an interview with The Breakfast Club radio show.

Harris used her Jamaican heritage to defend her position on legalizing marijuana for recreational use. 

"Look, I joke about it, I have joked about it. Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?" she laughed.