In ad, Senate hopeful smokes pot, slams arrest disparities

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A candidate for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana has posted a video campaign ad that shows him smoking marijuana while decrying racial disparities in arrests for the drug. The 37-second ad shows Democrat Gary Chambers sitting in a chair in an empty field and puffing what appears to be a marijuana blunt. In a voiceover, he cites statistics about the number of people and the amount of money spent enforcing marijuana laws. Chambers is Black and says Black people are four times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana violations. Chambers is one of two Democrats who’ve announced campaigns to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. John Kennedy.