Bernie Sanders would quickly issue an executive order to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances if he becomes president.

That pledge is part of a bold and comprehensive marijuana legalization plan the senator from Vermont released Thursday afternoon at precisely 4:20 p.m. – a tongue-in-cheek nod to the number that is emblematic of marijuana culture.

Decades of criminal prohibition on drugs have "disproportionately targeted people of color and ruined the lives of millions of Americans," Sanders' plan notes.

"It is time to admit the criminalization of marijuana was a disaster, especially for communities of color, and allow those most impacted to move forward with their lives," it says. "Our job now is to legalize marijuana and vacate and expunge past marijuana convictions, and ensure that revenue from legal marijuana is reinvested in communities hit hardest by the War on Drugs."

The plan mirrors – and in some areas goes further than – recent marijuana legalization measures implemented and proposed in several states. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance and is illegal at the federal level, though 11 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books legalizing the drug for recreational use.

Sanders, a longtime proponent of marijuana legalization, says his administration would review and expunge past marijuana convictions and direct states to do the same, using several initiatives from California as a blueprint.

Editorial Cartoons on Marijuana View All 15 Images

Sanders also says he would ban tobacco companies from participating in the marijuana industry and incentivize pot businesses to be structured like nonprofits.

The platform also calls for the creation of a grant program to aid people of color and those from communities disproportionately affected by marijuana prohibition who are looking to start their own marijuana companies, in addition to a grant program targeting community development in communities hit the hardest by prohibition.

The presidential candidate published the plan ahead of his appearance Saturday at the Second Step Presidential Justice Forum at Benedict College, a historically black college or university in South Carolina.

Nearly all presidential candidates in the crowded Democratic field support marijuana legalization and, like Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has also pledged to legalize the drug through executive action .