The newly named acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has called for the legalization and regulation of marijuana, putting her ahead of Attorney General Eric Holder on that issue.

Vanita Gupta, the senior American Civil Liberties Union attorney who will take over as acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division next week, has endorsed the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

In a CNN column she wrote last month, she praised the legalization and taxation of marijuana, framing her argument around the story of Jeff Mizanskey, a Missouri man sentenced to life in prison for buying a few pounds of marijuana:

“The solution is clear. Instead of taxpayers spending millions of dollars on this unnecessary enforcement and keeping folks like Mizanskey in prison for the rest of their lives, states could follow Colorado and Washington by taxing and regulating marijuana and investing saved enforcement dollars in education, substance abuse treatment, and prevention and other health care.” 

Unfortunately, the Civil Rights Division doesn’t oversee federal drug enforcement.

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