Boxing icon Mike Tyson made yet another impassioned plea to President Donald Trump to push for the national legalization of marijuana on Monday morning.
Marijuana consumption is completely legal for both recreational and medicinal use in 25 of the 50 American states – while only Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wyoming still have it completely illegal across the board.
After previously making a similar request last week, Tyson appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ to make his case for legalizing the drug.
Tyson appeared on behalf of the ‘Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump’s Policy Objectives’ – a group including 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.
Tyson also added that the group is receiving help from The Weldon Project – a group which, according to their website, is ‘dedicated to funding social change and financial aid for those who are still serving prison time for cannabis-related offenses.’
Boxing icon Mike Tyson went on Fox & Friends to plead for the legalization of marijuana
Tyson and a number of athletes and entertainers signed a letter to President Trump
Under Trump’s government, as with previous governments, marijuana is still a Schedule I drug
‘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,’ Tyson added.
Despite legalization at the state level nationally, with 13 states legalizing cannabis for medicinal use in addition to the 25 with full legal status, the federal government still has it under the label of a ‘Schedule I’ narcotic.
According to the DEA website, a drug is put under ‘Schedule I’ status if it has ‘no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse’.
Tyson finds that assertion ridiculous: ‘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.
In addition to pushing the President for rolling back the Schedule I label, Tyson and the group he’s working with are attempting to free those incarcerated for possessing marijuana.
‘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 told the show.
Last week, the athletes in the group – as well as entertainers like streamer Adin Ross and rapper Lil Pump – signed an open letter to President Trump advocating for major changes.
Allen Iverson (L) and Dez Bryant (R) are two former sports stars who signed a letter to Trump
NBA star Kevin Durant – who recently got traded to the Houston Rockets – was part of the group
The letter begins: ‘Today, people continue to serve lengthy federal sentences for conduct that is now legal in most states – which makes their continued incarceration not only cruel but absurd.
‘After making sweeping promises to voters in 2020, former President Biden failed to deliver on his pledge to address marijuana-related injustices.
‘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.
‘This betrayal only underscores the urgent need for bold leadership, we believe, and represents an opportunity to correct glaring disparities as part of your Administration’s ongoing push for criminal justice reform.’
Moving forward, the letter goes into further detail surrounding the desire to reclassify the drug from a Schedule I substance and change it to Schedule III.
The varying schedules impact how drugs are perceived regarding their potential for abuse vs medical application, in the eyes of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Schedule I substances are believed to have a high potential for abuse and are not regarded as accepted for medical use in the US.
Meanwhile, Schedule III substances are accepted for medical use in the US and have a low potential for physical and psychological dependence.
Meanwhile, former boxer Tyson previously revealed that he is a daily user of the drug
The letter read: ‘Marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I substance is scientifically outdated, economically detrimental, and at odds with modern medical understanding.
‘Rescheduling marijuana would harmonize federal law with state policies, promote innovation, encourage research, and drive economic growth.’
The final point in the letter makes reference to an initiative called ‘Operation Choke Point’ – which Trump has been opposed to – and ‘discriminatory bank practices’.
The initiative investigated banks and business which they did with firearm dealers and other companies who were said to be at risk of fraud or money laundering.
The letter suggested that marijuana companies have, similarly, been affected by the initiative.
‘State-legal cannabis operators, including many of us, have also been unjustly denied banking services despite full compliance with state law.
The letter also claimed that former President Joe Biden ‘failed to deliver’ on the matter
‘Despite operating legally in 40 states, employing over 450,000 Americans, and generating more than $35 billion annually, these businesses face unjust barriers to banking services, and their employees struggle to obtain mortgages from traditional lenders.
‘Moreover, cannabis businesses cannot take standard business deductions, leading to effective tax rates often exceeding 85 per cent.
‘While foreign cannabis companies benefit from listings on U.S. exchanges, such as NYSE and NASDAQ, American cannabis operators are unjustly excluded.
‘We fully support your commitment to ‘work with Congress to pass common-sense laws, including safe banking,’ ensuring fair economic opportunities and equal access to financial services for all American businesses.’
