 President Joe Biden has officially granted clemency to dozens of individuals with non-violent federal drug convictions, and he has commuted the sentences of 75 people who were serving time at home because of the pandemic. He also issued three pardons.
In Biden’s official statement, he said, “America is a nation of laws and second chances, redemption, and rehabilitation.” However, according to the official White House press release, only nine of those clemencies were connected to marijuana charges. Back when Biden was on the campaign trail, he said, “No one should be in jail because of marijuana. As president, I will decriminalize cannabis use and automatically expunge prior convictions.” So, after this clemency move Biden just made, many advocates and families of those incarcerated were disappointed in the fact that only 9 people were pardoned for marijuana. The Presidential office has been notably silent or vague on the subject of marijuana. Earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the president's pledge to stop criminalizing marijuana. Psaki said, "The president continues to believe that no one should be in jail because of drug use," Psaki said. "I don't have an update here. We are continuing to work with Congress, but what I can say on marijuana is we've made some progress on our promises." Although, how much progress has been made on the federal level is debatable. After over a year in office, these nine pardons are the most we’ve seen on a positive side. The President did make a negative move, though, when he fired several White House White House staffers for past cannabis consumption. Psaki did point out and praise the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to expand the number of authorized manufacturers to grow cannabis for research purposes. The press secretary called the move "a key step in promoting research because it broadens the amount and quality of cannabis available for research purposes." Many people have speculated on whether the President will support cannabis legislation, or if he’ll use his veto power to nix the cannabis legalization bill once it’s on his desk. A political scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Paul Quirk, recently said that Biden would be making a bad move by going against any cannabis legislation that makes it’s way through the Senate. Quirk said, “Legalization is favored by two-thirds of all Americans, an even higher percentage of Democrats, and the vast majority of younger people. The 18-39-year-old age group is exactly where Biden has lost the most support since his inauguration. Vetoing marijuana legalization would make Biden public-official enemy No. 1 to many of the young voters whose support he badly needs to win back.” Hopefully, President Biden will take more decisive action on those promises to decriminalize marijuana and help the country move in the right direction towards legalization. Comments are closed.
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