US VP Harris to talk marijuana reform in White House Friday

By Stephanie Kelly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with rapper Fat Joe and others pardoned for marijuana convictions Friday to discuss criminal justice reform, as she and President Joe Biden work to appeal to voters who want drug law reform.

Harris will convene a roundtable discussion with Fat Joe, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, White House Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin and others. Biden recently clinched the Democratic Party's nomination and now will have to convince voters to give him a second, four-year term, even as some are dissatisfied with his sluggish policy reforms.

The United States jails more people than any other country. Some 1 in 5 of those 1.9 million people are behind bars for a drug-related offense.

Black and Latino people are disproportionately incarcerated, while drug law reform has the broadest support among young voters. Each constituency favors Democrats.

Biden, who has sometimes disappointed activists with conservative views about narcotics use, has nonetheless proposed easing the treatment of marijuana under federal law and has pardoned thousands of convictions for mere possession of the psychoactive plant.

He mentioned both positions during his State of the Union speech last week, marking the first time a president used the congressional address to tout easing marijuana policy.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in Washington, Editing by Franklin Paul)