Gary Chambers Jr., a United States Senate candidate in Louisiana, released a campaign ad titled “37 seconds” that shows him smoking marijuana. In the ad, he speaks about the waste of money being used to enforce marijuana laws, and how race plays a part in marijuana-related arrests.
“Every 37 seconds, someone is arrested for possession of marijuana,” Chambers says in the campaign video. “Since 2010, state and local police have arrested an estimated 7.3 million Americans for violating marijuana laws; over half of all drug arrests,” he says.
While taking a puff of the blunt, he goes on to talk about how race plays a factor in marijuana-related arrests.
“Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people. States waste $3.7 billion enforcing marijuana laws every year. Most of the people police are arresting aren’t dealers, but rather people with small amounts of pot just like me,” he says.
In June 2021, lawmakers in Louisiana amended state law so that people with possession of up to 14 grams of marijuana would be subject to a $100 fine.
In his tweet promoting the ad, he wrote: “I hope this ad works to not only destigmatize the use of marijuana, but also forces a new conversation that creates the pathway to legalize this beneficial drug, and forgive those who were arrested due to outdated ideology.”
