In his 40 years in the Senate, as is now well known, Biden was a key architect of harsh criminal penalties for nonviolent drug users. Undoing much of his own work was one way to make sense of a large part of the criminal justice plan his presidential campaign recently released. Finding a centrist's safe-and-happy medium on weed in particular, Biden has not embraced legalization—a.k.a. commercialized, recreational pot use—but has claimed to back decriminalization, or removing at least most pot offenses from the criminal justice system.

But Biden is actually pushing a policy that could wreck the growing American weed industry and massively disrupt users' access to the drug, attorneys, consultants, academics, and entrepreneurs well-versed in US cannabis policy say.

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The proposal would do for cannabis "the same thing it’s done for meth: Ensure reduced research initiatives, selective prosecution, and a thriving black market," said Michael Backes, a Southern California-based cannabis industry consultant and author of Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana.

Selling cannabis like other Schedule II drugs, in "a closed system, only by prescription, only sold by licensed pharmacies, would be massively disruptive," Herzberg concluded. "It would produce massive changes—and if it were actually enforced, there could be no recreational marijuana at all."

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the Democratic Party's most liked 2020 presidential candidate, according to a new Gallup survey released Friday.

Out of 10 candidates ranked in the poll, Gallup found that Democrats had the most favorable opinion of Sanders, with 72 percent of respondents indicating a favorable view of the senator. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has been leading every national poll of the 2020 roster, earned the second-highest favorable rating from Democrats, at 69 percent.

Joe Biden, former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, said Friday he would bring back the individual mandate, the penalty for not having health insurance, which was a pillar of the Affordable Care Act.
"Yes, I'd bring back the individual mandate," Biden said in an interview on CNN. The individual mandate would be popular now, "compared to what's being offered," he added.

TUNIS, Tunisia — Prime Minister Youssef Chahed of Tunisia on Friday prohibited anyone wearing the niqab, a religious covering for the face with only an opening for the eyes, from entering public institutions and government offices, citing security reasons.

After Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, which started the Arab Spring, an Islamist political party came to power and Tunisians were divided over use of the niqab in public spaces. There was broad public debate over women’s rights and religious freedom.

But since then, terrorist attacks and a concentrated effort to fight them mean that for much of the population, safety, and the need to clearly identify faces, have taken precedence, making Tunisia’s ban “not so surprising,” according to Amel Grami, a professor at Manouba University who studies Islam and is the author of a book about women and jihad.

“Society is aware of the necessity of security,” she said. “We have been through several heavy terrorist attacks.”

After a strong performance in her first Democratic presidential debate, Senator Kamala Harris of California saw a significant increase in support in three polls released this week, as she and the rest of the Democratic primary field cut into the lead that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has enjoyed since entering the 2020 race.

The three polls of likely Democratic voters — two were national surveys, and one polled Iowa caucusgoers — all showed Ms. Harris leaping into second place in the days after last week’s debates. They also showed a dip in support for Mr. Biden, though more than one in five respondents still said he was their first choice to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Taken together, the polls also continued a broader trend in which Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has gained ground as Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has fallen back. Ms. Warren remained solidly in the top tier, finishing third in all three polls; Mr. Sanders, who led several polls before Mr. Biden entered the race, finished fourth in each of them. The differences between the two were within the margins of error and thus statistically insignificant.

All three polls were conducted by phone within four days of the first round of Democratic debates last week. While Ms. Harris appeared to benefit the most from her performance, gains in polling for particular candidates immediately after debates are often temporary.