For Californians resolved to one day entering a dispensary and purchasing pre-rolled joints or marijuana-infused cookies — all for recreational use — a high-profile ally who lives 3,000 miles away has emerged.
As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders darts across the state ahead of the June 7 Democratic presidential primary, he’s seamlessly woven into his pitch to voters an unyielding message of support for an effort that would legalize recreational pot in California.
“It makes sense to legalize marijuana at this particular point," Sanders told supporters this week on a dusty softball field at a park in East Los Angeles where, like at many of his outdoor events in California, a slightly pungent pot aroma wafted through the air. “So if I were here in your state, I would vote yes on that issue."
Kurtis Lee is a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He wrote news features, narratives and enterprise on an array of topics — race, criminal justice, immigration, income inequality, the 2nd Amendment. He won first place in the 2021 National Headliner Awards for his series of stories about the COVID-19 pandemic on the Navajo Nation. Lee has filed reports from the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and chronicled Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency. Prior to joining The Times in August 2014, Lee worked at the Denver Post where he covered state and national politics. He’s also reported from the scenes of destructive wildfires and mass shootings and was a member of the Post staff that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the Aurora theater shooting. He’s a graduate of Temple University.
