WATCH: US Senate candidate bluntly smokes in campaign ad

By Maureen Meehan

Democrat Gary Chambers, who is running for a seat in the US Senate from Louisiana, published a campaign ad on Tuesday in which he smoked a sizeable blunt while sitting in an armchair, looking as cool as one could imagine can. But Chambers is deadly serious about the harms of cannabis criminalization.

“Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people,” Chambers says, citing ACLU statistics. “States waste $3.7 billion each year enforcing marijuana laws. Most of the people the police arrest aren’t dealers, they’re people with small amounts of weed, just like me.”

The ad is titled “37 Seconds,” a reference to research that shows police make a marijuana-related arrest every 37 seconds, on average.

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“For too long, candidates have used marijuana legalization as an empty topic of conversation to appeal to progressive voters,” Chambers said in a press release. “I hope that this ad will not only help destigmatize marijuana use, but will force a new conversation that will pave the way for the legalization of this beneficial drug and forgive those arrested for outdated ideologies.”

Chambers, a prominent Baton Rouge social justice advocate who has run for a seat in the US House of Representatives in the past, is now up against incumbent Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), who has since consistently refused to pass any legislation in the support connection with cannabis In 2017 he took over the seat.

In the press release, Chambers also expressed support for the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act, a bipartisan Congressional bill introduced in December by Republican Dave Joyce of Ohio and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

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Although an incumbent member of Congress has never smoked weed in public, this could be the first time a candidate has done so in a campaign ad.

Incidentally, Chambers’ Twitter account is exploding, mostly with ecstatic support, though there are a few forbidden naysayers warning that he’s a “fool.” Only time can tell. Finally, support for cannabis legalization and growing disgust at racially motivated marijuana arrests are at an all-time high.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.