'Pennsylvanians wanted this five years ago,' Fetterman said.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., made his case for marijuana legalization ahead of April 20, known as a holiday of sorts for those who enjoy smoking or otherwise consuming the drug.
"Right now, we're doing this interview in Washington, D.C., and right now I could leave [and] go buy marijuana legally," Fetterman told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday. He compared the capital's policy on the drug to that of his home state Pennsylvania, which only allows residents to legally use marijuana for medicinal purposes.
"Pennsylvanians wanted this five years ago," he claimed, recalling his time campaigning throughout the state. "We're still not there."
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Sen. John Fetterman pushed for legalization and de-sheduling of marijuana ahead of Cannabis holiday 4/20. (Getty Images)
Fetterman noted that most of the states surrounding the Keystone State had already made the drug legal for adults. "It's not complicated. Other states have done that," he said.
Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which surround Pennsylvania, have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use in small amounts.
The origins of 4/20's association with marijuana are not agreed on, but it has been speculated that the holiday could have started in several ways. Some theorize that the number 420 was used by police to reference the drug, while others point to Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," noting that when the numbers are multiplied they equal 420. Despite the various theories, there does not appear to be consensus on how the day began.
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Fetterman emphasized that safety is heightened when marijuana is regulated. (David McNew/Getty Images)
"It needs to be safe, pure, taxed and available," Fetterman said, explaining that illegally purchased versions of the drug are difficult to trace and could be cut with dangerous substances, such as fentanyl.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, marijuana in small amounts has been made legal for recreational use by adults in 24 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and two U.S. territories.
"Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal … blowback," the Pennsylania senator said.
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Fetterman said he has pushed Biden for action on marijuana. (Getty Images)
Fetterman told Fox News Digital that he has encouraged President Biden directly to take federal steps towards "liberalizing" the drug.
He has also lobbied Biden to deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), under which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently lists it as schedule I. This schedule includes drugs "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Marijuana is included in the list of schedule I substances, alongside heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, and peyote, among others.
Fetterman stressed he doesn't believe "anyone [should] have their lives impacted criminally for a nonviolent marijuana charge."
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Several states have yet to legalize the drug recreationally. (© DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK)
As for illegal markets that still exist in states where marijuana has been legalized, he noted that no states have implemented the policy perfectly, "but I think you'll see that that will continue to evolve."
"Marijuana is going to continue" to become cheaper as policy develops, and "that will absolutely eliminate any of [those] illegal markets," he claimed.
The senator also emphasized the bipartisan nature of efforts to reform marijuana policy. "Republicans want legal weed. Democrats want legal weed," he said. "And I think this is a [place] where we could come together in a bipartisan way to say, 'Look, let's do this and just get on with it.'"
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
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