 After President Biden’s Cannabis pardon announcment on Thursday, the different branches of government responsible for carrying out his requests spoke on their support and plans to get those items accomplished as soon as they can.
A spokesperson for the Depratment of Justice said they will be working quickly to create a plan for issuing the pardons as directed by President Biden. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh spoke with Yahoo Finance. He said the Labor Department will, ”work with [those who were pardoned] to make sure that they can get into good employment—that this is not an impediment to their ability to get into the middle class and get a good-paying job.” And regarding the status of Cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug on the Controlled Substances Act, Xavier Becerra, the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said they will “work as quickly as [they] can” on this. And Becerra added that he’s already spoken to the Food and Drug Administation Commissioner about beginning the review process. Many Governors have already weighed in on the President’s request to the states to also issue similar pardons. Governors who support cannabis legalization were quick to praise the Presidential announcment. The Governor of Colorado, Democrat Jared Polis, said that he’s “thrilled” with the president’s cannabis announcement, and added, “Today’s federal action will change people’s lives and not block their success.” Some states, like Colorado and Illinois, had already begun expunging records. Regarding the Presidents pardon statement, Illinois’ Governor, Democrat J.B. Pritzker said, “I’m proud to have taken action and I hope to see other states follow our lead.” On the other end of the spectrum, Idaho’s Governor, Republican Brad Little, issued a statement bashing Biden’s cannabis announcement. Little said, “…what’s not clear is whether Biden really understands that individuals incarcerated for possession of small amounts of marijuana almost always have accompanying offenses, making his blanket pardon basically pointless. Here in Idaho, we will continue to fight for a secure border and make our correctional system fair, with a focus on keeping dangerous people off the street.” While Governor Little said Biden’s Pardons were “basically pointless,” there are 6,500 people who qualify to be pardoned who would certainly dissagree. For more information on each state Governor’s responses thus far, please see: Will Governors Issue Marijuana Pardons Following Biden's Call To Action? Dozens Are Already Weighing In - Marijuana Moment Comments are closed.
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