Boxing icon Mike Tyson has joined a powerhouse coalition of athletes and entertainers urging US President Donald Trump to deliver on marijuana reform, a pledge they say Joe Biden failed to keep.“There’s over 500,000 people that can’t get loans because they’re in the cannabis business alone and that’s just so ridiculous. It’s such a great income for the country,” he told Fox & Friends hosts on Monday.Talking about his own experience of taking cannabis, Tyson said, “I could not live, I was going crazy without cannabis. I was just going absolutely mad, fighting people in the street, giving wild responses back to people who said, ‘Can I help you?’ And then it’s done so much for me. It’s given me a new life, so to speak… all the reckless trouble I was getting into [as a kid], that’s not happening now as an adult.”The Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump’s Policy Objectives, which is backed by stars like Kevin Durant and Dez Bryant, wrote to the White House regarding the issue. The group is calling for clemency for nonviolent marijuana offenses, reclassification of cannabis, and an end to what they describe as discriminatory banking practices.Criticising the Biden administration over its non-action towards the issue, the letter said, “Not only did he leave office without commuting the sentences of those incarcerated for marijuana, but in one of his final acts, he denied nearly every pending marijuana-related clemency application”.“This betrayal only underscores the urgent need for bold leadership, we believe, and represents an opportunity to correct glaring disparities as part of your [the Trump] Administration’s ongoing push for criminal justice reform,” it said, Fox News reported.Tyson said the group is focused on creating access to safe banking for people in the cannabis industry who are currently shut out from getting loans.
