{"id":10936,"date":"2022-10-12T09:55:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T13:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freethepeople.org\/?p=10936"},"modified":"2024-11-22T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T20:21:08","slug":"joe-bidens-marijuana-pardons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freethepeople.org\/joe-bidens-marijuana-pardons\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Biden’s Marijuana Pardons"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday of last week, President Joe Biden took a break from knowingly<\/a> provoking nuclear war by using Ukraine to fight a proxy war<\/a> against Russia, in order to pardon roughly 6,500 people<\/a> who had been federally convicted of marijuana possession. He encouraged state governors to do the same and also instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, and the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to look into potentially rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.<\/p>\n

Currently, despite being legal in some form in a majority of states<\/a>, marijuana is a Schedule I drug<\/a>, in the same class as heroin and above much more dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

For those who are being pardoned, and more broadly, for the prospect of bringing an end to the War on Drugs entirely, this is welcome news. As I previously mentioned, the pardons affect roughly 6,500 people, as well as thousands more who were convicted in Washington D.C. However, this latest move falls short<\/a> in several ways.<\/p>\n

The most obvious example would be that these pardons only apply to those convicted federally when most simple possession convictions happen at the state level. Biden did encourage state governors to remedy that part of the problem on their end, but the fact remains that the number of pardons is still a drop in the bucket compared to the overall amount of those convicted throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Also, a Biden administration official stated<\/a> that none of the 6,500 people affected by these pardons are currently in prison<\/em>, as nearly everyone in federal prisons for marijuana are there on distribution charges. That isn\u2019t to say that this move won\u2019t benefit those 6,500 people, just that these pardons are not as far-reaching as they initially seem to be.<\/p>\n

One group of people that won\u2019t be affected by these pardons are those who were not legally in the U.S.<\/a> when they were convicted. This highlights how Biden\u2019s rhetoric on immigration remains detached from many of his actual policies. Given the fact that Biden used former president Donald Trump\u2019s harsh immigration policies against him during the 2020 election, it\u2019s disappointing to see Biden fail to be much better on the issue than his predecessor.<\/p>\n

While these pardons and the potential rescheduling of marijuana are positive developments, they fail to address the root cause of the problem. Namely, that marijuana remains illegal on a federal level. To be fair, Biden does not have the authority to unilaterally legalize the plant, nor should he, which leaves that task in the hands of Congress.<\/p>\n

There have been bills introduced in both the House and the Senate to legalize marijuana on a federal level—in fact, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, actually passed the House<\/a>—but those bills making it through the Senate require bipartisan support, and Democrats in Congress seem unwilling<\/a> to put in the work to gain Republican approval.<\/p>\n

There are aspects of these bills that are clear issues for Republicans, and Democrats have made no effort to compromise where they can to help these bills become law. This brings into question whether or not Democrats actually care to end federal marijuana prohibition, as it appears these proposed bills were more performative than substantive. If Democrats, including Joe Biden, are serious about marijuana reform, there are more steps that they can take.<\/p>\n

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Pardon all cannabis (marijuana)-related offenses, not just simple possession.
Expunge all associated convictions.
End civil asset forfeiture.
Decriminalize all drugs at the federal level.<\/p>\n

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n