Biden to pardon all federal simple marijuana possession offenses

President Biden announced on Thursday that he intends to pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. This major step towards decriminalizing marijuana will coincide with Biden urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to “review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law,” according to CNN. 

“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” Biden said in a video statement. “It’s legal in many states, and criminal records for marijuana possession have led to needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities. And that’s before you address the racial disparities around who suffers the consequences. While white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates . . . Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs”

In 2019, Biden devoted a good portion of his presidential campaign to the promise of one day decriminalizing marijuana and with this latest announcement, he’s made good on advancing further towards the fulfillment of that promise.

“[Biden] supports decriminalizing marijuana and automatically expunging prior criminal records for marijuana possession, so those affected don’t have to figure out how to petition for it or pay for a lawyer,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN from the 2019 campaign trail. 

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In full transparency of his plan to, as he puts it, “end our failed approach” to marijuana related charges, Biden breaks down the full scope of his intent as such:

First: I’m pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. There are thousands of people who were previously convicted of simple possession who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result. My pardon will remove this burden.

Second: I’m calling on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses. Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely for possessing marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.

Third: We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin – and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense. I’m asking @SecBecerra and the Attorney General to initiate the process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

According to a White House official sourced by CNBC, “more than 6,500 individuals with prior convictions for simple marijuana possession were impacted by the pardons, and thousands more through pardons under D.C. law. The pardons will not be extended to those who weren’t U.S. citizens and were illegally in the country at the time of their arrest.”