Bill Maher is calling for a nationwide pardon of all pot prisoners. On the February 20 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the host challenged President Obama to release all those incarcerated for marijuana offenses.
Maher noted the last three US presidents, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama – along with potential 2016 Republican candidate Jeb Bush – have all smoked pot, and that they in turn “owe a debt to the 40,000 unlucky Americans currently in jail for the exact same crime.”
According to Maher, while Obama has been “reversing the stupidities of the past” in regards to healthcare, gay marriage, torture, immigration and Cuba, he should likewise acknowledge imprisoning people for non-violent cannabis crimes was “a giant mistake in the first place.” Obama should “use the power of the presidential pardon and free them all.”
Maher went on to cite instances of past presidential pardons – Lincoln pardoned Confederates after the Civil War, Gerald Ford pardoned Vietnam draft dodgers and Reagan signed an amnesty for 2.7 million illegal Mexican immigrants.
Maher finished his New Rule by quipping, “If Republicans can forgive people for armed insurrection, desertion and speaking Spanish, a Democrat can forgive us for getting high.”
Watch the clip below:
