Mike Tyson, the boxing legend, has once again urged President Donald Trump to advocate for the nationwide legalization of marijuana.
This plea comes as the drug is already fully legal for both recreational and medicinal use in half of the American states. However, it remains entirely illegal in Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
According to the Daily Mail, Tyson made this appeal during his appearance on 'Fox & Friends', representing the 'Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump's Policy Objectives'. This group includes basketball stars Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson, boxer Roy Jones Jr, and former NFL stars Dez Bryant, Antonio Brown, and Ricky Williams.
"This is something they wanted to do for so many years, but didn't know how to go about doing it," Tyson said on the show. "And I was just blessed enough to have the perfect team for this genre of sports... medicine."
The group is also receiving assistance from The Weldon Project, an organization dedicated to funding social change and providing financial aid for those still serving prison time for cannabis-related offenses. Tyson expressed his delight at being part of this initiative, stating, "I'm just so happy to be a part of this and be a part with other athletes, not knowing that they were really with this whole situation in making cannabis legal. I never knew other athletes wanted that as well."
Despite the state-level legalization, the federal government still classifies cannabis as a 'Schedule I' narcotic, a label Tyson finds absurd. "Cannabis has been labeled a [Schedule I] narcotic and that's in the same category as crack and heroin. And we all know whoever [experimented] with cannabis before, know that's not true and that's just ridiculous," Tyson argued.
In addition to advocating for the reclassification of cannabis, Tyson and his group are also working towards freeing those imprisoned for marijuana possession. "We're also working on clemency because there's people that are still in prison, been in there for 15 years, got [an] enormous amount of time and ridiculous sentences for cannabis. Can you believe [it]? The rest of your life's gonna be spent in prison because of a plant," he lamented.
Last week, the group, which includes entertainers like streamer Adin Ross and rapper Lil Pump, penned an open letter to President Trump, calling for significant changes. The letter criticized former President Biden for failing to address marijuana-related injustices despite his promises during the 2020 election campaign. The letter also emphasized the need for bold leadership to correct these glaring disparities as part of the current administration's push for criminal justice reform.
The letter further elaborated on the group's desire to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance. This reclassification would align federal law with state policies, promote innovation, encourage research, and stimulate economic growth.
The letter also referenced 'Operation Choke Point', an initiative that President Trump has opposed, and discriminatory banking practices. The group argued that state-legal cannabis operators have been unjustly denied banking services despite full compliance with state law. They pointed out that these businesses, which operate legally in 40 states, employ over 450,000 Americans and generate more than $35 billion annually, yet face unfair barriers to banking services.
The group concluded their letter by expressing their full support for President Trump's commitment to "work with Congress to pass common-sense laws, including safe banking," to ensure fair economic opportunities and equal access to financial services for all American businesses.
This move, they believe, would help to rectify the current situation where American cannabis operators are unjustly excluded from listings on U.S. exchanges, such as NYSE and NASDAQ, while foreign cannabis companies benefit.
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