Kamala Harris acknowledges smoking weed in the past

Democratic White House hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Monday acknowledged that she has smoked marijuana in the past.

{mosads}In a radio interview on New York City radio station WWPR’s “The Breakfast Club,” Harris, who recently entered the 2020 presidential race, said she smoked a joint “a long time ago” and pushed back on accusations that she has opposed efforts to legalize marijuana. 

“I have,” she said when asked by host Charlamagne Tha God if she had ever smoked marijuana.

“And I did inhale,” she added, joking about former President Clinton’s famous line that he had smoked marijuana but “didn’t inhale.”

Hear what #KamalaHarris thinks about legalizing marijuana pic.twitter.com/YGZlCAKUZ0

— The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam) February 11, 2019

Harris went on to say that accusations she has tried to keep the drug from becoming legalized are not true.

“That’s not true,” she said.

“Half my family’s from Jamaica, are you kidding me?” she added, laughing.

Harris added that she supports legalization, a stance she expanded on in a new book published last month.

Last year, Harris backed fellow 2020 candidate Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) proposed bill to decriminalize the drug.

“I think that it gives a lot of people joy. We need more joy,” she said of marijuana in the interview Monday.

Harris faced criticism for laughing off a question about legalization of recreational marijuana in 2014 when she was running for reelection as California attorney general.

Nationwide support has grown for legal recreational pot, with 62 percent of respondents saying in an October poll that they support legalizing marijuana.

Currently, 10 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational pot, and 33 have legalized medical marijuana. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (D) last week introduced a bill to legalize the substance at the federal level.