Boxing legend Mike Tyson has been at the forefront of cannabis reform in the United States and this weekend he posted about the issue on social media.
Tyson, 59, was open earlier this month in an interview with Fox News Digital about how he believed marijuana use kept him out of jail.
"Tired of hearing that legal cannabis will cause mass chaos or have people stinking up the streets," he wrote on X. "That’s just ridiculous. We’ve got rules for cigarettes and alcohol, therefore, cannabis would be no different. It’s about freedom. Adults should have the choice.
"Until it’s legal federally, cartels and human traffickers keep winning."
Tyson would hope to see the plant reclassified by the government from a category that is defined by high potential for abuse with no accepted medical use to a category of moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.
It is one of the three points Tyson advocated in a recent letter to President Donald Trump's White House that he wrote in conjunction with other superstar athletes and entertainers, like Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson.
Tyson added he believes the rescheduling of marijuana is the top priority in his federal reform goals.
He and his supporters also want to see mass clemency for nonviolent marijuana offenders. Tyson said seeing people going to jail for these offenses was an unfortunate memory of his childhood.
"I always knew that. I always knew that I am friends with those people, people come from my community," Tyson told Fox News Digital.
He recalled one member of his community he watched go to jail when he was a kid and who wasn't released until Tyson became an established fighter.
A recent study by researchers at UC San Francisco determined that eating edible cannabis, such as gummies, has the same cardiovascular risk as smoking marijuana for long-term users. The risk stems from reduced blood vessel function, according to the study, published in JAMA Cardiology May 28.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
