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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.
Mike Tyson speaks onstage during the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Boxing match Arlington press conference at Texas Live! on May 16, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images for Netflix)
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.”
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.
MORE SENIORS ARE USING CANNABIS THAN EVER BEFORE DESPITE HEALTH RISKS, RESEARCH SHOWS
Athletes’ and entertainers’ letter to Trump on cannabis reform suggests that Biden failed to deliver his pledge to address “marijuana-related injustices.” (Fox & Friends/Screengrab)
“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.
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Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. in the fifth round during “Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. presented by Triller” at Staples Center on November 28, 2020 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Triller)
“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.
“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.
