Vice President Kamala Harris was accused of hypocrisy after she decried Brittney Griner’s conviction by Russia on hashish smuggling fees — regardless of Harris prosecuting hundreds of comparable marijuana possession instances in her earlier profession as a prosecutor.
Griner, 31, was sentenced on Thursday to 9 years in jail after she admitted to bringing vape cartridges containing hashish oil into the nation. The WNBA star stated she had been prescribed the oil to assist relieve ache associated to her continual accidents and had unintentionally packed them in her baggage.
The decision was met with common condemnation from US diplomats and authorities officers, led by President Biden, who known as the sentence “unacceptable” and demanded that Russia launch each Griner and a second jailed American, Paul Whelan, “instantly.”
Harris launched a separate assertion on Twitter condemning Griner’s conviction.
“With in the present day’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She must be launched instantly,” Harris wrote. “@POTUS and I, and our complete Administration, are working on daily basis to reunite Brittney, in addition to Paul Whelan, with family members who miss every of them dearly.”
However Harris’ many critics had been fast to level out that whereas serving as each San Francisco’s district lawyer and California’s lawyer common, she oversaw hundreds of marijuana-related prosecutions and was an outspoken critic of pot legalization, because the Every day Mail first reported.
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“Brittney Griner acquired 9 years for drug possession in Russia… which seems like a lot of the legal sentences Kamala Harris acquired individuals for a similar factor when she was lawyer common of California,” writer Tim Younger tweeted.
One other commenter wrote: “LMAO, didn’t U lock up a s—load of individuals for weed? Then bragged about it, and went on to say you smoked weed in faculty listening to Tupac and snoop earlier than they lower their first albums?”
A 3rd fumed in the identical vein: “You locked up individuals for possession of marijuana. And also you’re solely condemning this as a result of the US can't revenue from her incarceration in Russia.”
The San Jose Mercury Information reported in 2019 that in Harris’ tenure as San Francisco’s high prosecutor between 2004-2010, her workplace dealt with greater than 1,900 marijuana convictions — though it has been identified that the majority of these arrested for low-level possession had been spared jail time, and just a few dozen had been incarcerated.
Harris was elected the Golden State’s lawyer common in 2011 and had an extra 1,970 individuals locked up for marijuana offenses on her watch, in keeping with an investigation by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication.
Harris additionally vocally opposed California’s marijuana legalization poll initiative, which in the end handed in 2016.
She solely threw her help behind legalization round 2018, even endorsing a invoice which might have eliminated hashish from the Managed Substances Act, reported Forbes. She additionally wrote a e-book through which she argued for the decriminalization of hashish.
By the point Harris radically modified her stance on marijuana, there was already discuss of her working for president.
Harris famously sparred with Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard throughout a Democratic presidential debate in 2019 after Gabbard introduced up her file of throwing individuals in jail for marijuana possession.
“She put over 1,500 individuals in jail for marijuana violations after which laughed about it when she was requested if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard stated, referring to Harris’ interview with the radio present “The Breakfast Membership.”
In that sitdown, the White Home contender — and former prosecutor — admitted with fun that she had smoked marijuana in faculty, saying: “I've. And I inhaled — I did inhale. It was a very long time in the past. However, sure.”
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