As part of what his administration calls a three-step plan, President Biden announced Thursday that he is pardoning thousands of people with federal convictions for “simple possession” of marijuana. According to the administration, this is part of an effort to end the nation’s “failed approach” to criminalizing the drug.
As I have said during my presidential campaign, no one should be imprisoned for merely smoking or owning marijuana, according to Biden. Too many lives have been ruined by locking individuals up for having marijuana, and this is an offense that many states no longer have laws against. Additionally, criminal records for marijuana possession have created unnecessary hurdles in jobs, housing, and education. Additionally, even though white, black, and brown individuals consume marijuana at comparable rates, Black and brown people are disproportionately arrested, prosecuted, and convicted.
Biden has instructed Attorney General Merrick Garland to create an administrative procedure to grant pardons to the estimated 6,500 eligible people.
Thousands of people have had past federal convictions for marijuana possession. As a result, they might not be able to get jobs, housing, or prospects for further education, according to Biden. “My action will lessen the side effects resulting from these convictions,”
The president requests the same thing from the governors of all 50 states.
Biden stated, “No one should be in a local or state prison for that reason, either. Just as no one should be in a federal prison purely due to the use of marijuana.”
Additionally, he requests that Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra “expeditiously evaluate how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.”
Currently, marijuana is classified under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which is reserved for the most dangerous drugs, such as heroin and LSD. It is even more hazardous than fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Biden said, “Too many lives have been upended because of our misguided attitude to marijuana. “We need to make these wrongs right,”
Over the past several decades, there has been growing popular support for marijuana legalization in the US, increasing pressure on the Biden administration to take action.
A bill to decriminalize the substance was proposed earlier this year by Senate Democrats under the leadership of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia are where marijuana usage is allowed for recreational purposes.
According to a recent Gallup poll, more than two-thirds of Americans (68%) support legalizing marijuana, matching the record high set a year ago. According to a Pew Research study published in June, almost nine out of ten Black Americans support some kind of legalization (57% said the drug should be allowed for both medicinal and recreational use, while 28% said it should just be permitted for medical use).
A 2020 American Civil Liberties Union research detailed the racial gap in cannabis-related arrests, another argument in favor of legalization.
Additionally, a Gallup poll in August revealed that more Americans now claim they use marijuana than cigarettes, a first in the poll’s history.
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