Mike Tyson urges Trump to deliver on cannabis reform

nypost.com

Boxing legend Mike Tyson is among a fleet of star athletes and entertainers behind the push for cannabis reform, urging President Donald Trump to deliver on a “failed” pledge from former President Joe Biden to “address marijuana-related injustices.”

“Cannabis is in the same category as heroin. How do you categorize it with heroin? Anybody that would smoke cannabis knows there’s no comparison, and that’s just ridiculous,” Tyson told the “Fox & Friends” hosts on Monday.

The “Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump’s Policy Objectives,” which also includes NBA star Kevin Durant and former NFL star Dez Bryant, penned a letter to the White House to plead their case.

The letter highlighted three main points in their proposed reform: clemency for “nonviolent” marijuana offenses, support for marijuana rescheduling, or, in other words, changing its current classification as a Schedule I substance to a Schedule III substance, and ending “discriminatory banking practices.”

Mike Tyson smoking a joint at the Mary Jane cannabis trade fair in Berlin.

The letter criticized former President Biden for failing to take action with regard to those incarcerated for the substance. ZUMAPRESS.com

Mike Tyson at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory.

“Cannabis is in the same category as heroin. How do you categorize it with heroin,” Tyson said. Matthew McDermott

Tyson said the group is working on “open[ing] up” safe banking for those in the cannabis business who are currently unable to get loans.

“There’s over 500,000 people that can’t get loans because they’re in the cannabis business alone and that’s just so ridiculous,” he said. “It’s such a great income for the country…”

He also argued that cannabis is not a drug and is, instead, a form of medicine that gave him a new lease on life.

President Biden delivers farewell address.

Tyson said the group is working on “open[ing] up” safe banking for those in the cannabis business who are currently unable to get loans. Getty Images

“I could not live, I was going crazy without cannabis. I was just going absolutely mad, fighting people in the street, giving wild responses back to people who said, ‘Can I help you?’ And then it’s done so much for me. It’s given me a new life, so to speak… all the reckless trouble I was getting into [as a kid], that’s not happening now as an adult.”

The letter from the series of athletes and entertainers also criticized former President Biden for failing to take action with regard to those incarcerated for the substance.

“Not only did he leave office without commuting the sentences of those incarcerated for marijuana, but in one of his final acts, he denied nearly every pending marijuana-related clemency application,” the letter stated.

Close-up of Donald Trump.

He also argued that cannabis is not a drug and is, instead, a form of medicine that gave him a new lease on life. AFP via Getty Images

“This betrayal only underscores the urgent need for bold leadership, we believe, and represents an opportunity to correct glaring disparities as part of your [the Trump] Administration’s ongoing push for criminal justice reform.”

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.