California senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris told the She The People forum, "the first-ever Presidential candidate forum focused on women of color," that it was wrong to punish young black men who sold marijuana during the days of the Drug War, and prohibit them from participating in the legal marijuana industry -- and pointed out "they were ahead of the curve."
"A lot of the people who were arrested for marijuana sales were young men, young men of color," Harris said.
"Isn't that the irony of it all, that now this is one of the fastest growing money-making industries in our country," she continued. "The very young men who were trying to make money doing the same thing, but got criminalized and have been branded felons for life are excluded from the economic opportunities that are now available because of this new industry."
"Some of those young men should be first in line to get the jobs that are available," Harris said. "Their felony convictions should not be the barrier to them having employment in an industry they were a part of before it was an industry."
"They were ahead of the curve, she added laughing as the audience erupted in applause.
Watch the video below.
