Boxer Mike Tyson joined other athletes in pressuring President Donald Trump to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.
Former President Joe Biden started the process of shifting marijuana to a Schedule III drug, as well as other drugs such as ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone. However, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug.
“Cannabis is in the same category as heroin. How can you categorize it with heroin? There is no comparison and that is ridiculous,” Tyson said on Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Monday. “That’s the first mistake that we’re making, categorizing it as a drug. It’s not a drug. It’s a medicine, just not labeled as medicine because we never used it.”
Before Trump took office, he voted “yes” on a ballot measure seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida. However, the measure ultimately fell four percentage points short of the 60% threshold needed to pass.
He also, upon taking office, negotiated the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was convicted of drug possession in Russia and detained there from 2022 to February of this year. Customs officials found 0.6 ounces of medical marijuana in his luggage.
Marijuana is legal for medical and recreational use in 24 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and it is legal for only medical use in 12 states. Tyson argued that the drug should be legal nationwide for those over 21 years old.
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“Listen, I hate to even say this, just look at me 30 years ago when I was fighting, and look at me now. I could not live. I was going crazy without cannabis,” Tyson said. “It’s done so much for me. It’s given me new life, so to speak.”
The “Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump’s Policy Objectives,” led by Tyson, sent a letter to Trump proposing a change to marijuana laws. Other coalition members also signed onto the letter, including NBA star Kevin Durant and former NFL star Dez Bryant.