SAN JOSE - Bernie Sanders, who said last week that he had not yet studied a California measure to legalize marijuana for recreational use, on Wednesday endorsed the initiative.

At a rally on Monday in Puerto Rico, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders promised he would legalize marijuana if he becomes president.

In the histories still to be written about the long, hard fight for federal cannabis reform, scholars will delineate between the only two epochs which really mattered: Before Bernie, and After Bernie.

Campaigning for president in the liberal oasis of Madison, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont rose to the defense of marijuana.

MADISON, WI (KTRK) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders says he wants to decriminalize marijuana.

The simple answer is that the marijuana market would likely get a lot bigger than it is today, but (as there often is) there's a bit more to the story than that.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has filed a bill in the Senate seeking to end the federal criminalization of marijuana.

Forbes on Bernie Sanders

Position: For Legalization

Marijuana Policy Project on Bernie Sanders

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced he is running for president on April 30, 2015.

Where does he stand?

Sen. Sanders supports the legalization of medical marijuana, and he has been critical of the war on drugs, particularly with regard to how it has been enforced.