Deep Dive: The most important part of Biden’s surprise marijuana announcement
Image: Christina Animashaun/Vox
President Joe Biden announced pardoning convictions of simple cannabis possession and ending the failed approach on the scheduling of cannabis. Vox recently outlined the announcement and the questions that come from it.
1: What did President Joe Biden lay out?
The announcement was broken into three parts in which Biden believes will help.
The first step is to pardon conviction of simple cannabis possession. This will be done at the Federal level, so States will need to follow in his footsteps or risk pressure from voters.
The second step calls for Governors to follow suit at the State level. States like Illinois and California have already issued pardons with Illinois expunging close to five hundred thousand arrest records.
The third step calls for the rescheduling of cannabis. Thankfully, the Justice Department issued a statement saying they would expedite the President's request.
2: Was it enough?
A large portion of simple cannabis possession charges are classified as conspiracy, meaning there was an agreement between two or more people to violate a federal drug law, rather than simple possession. The New York Times reported that the pardons will affect about 6,500 people convicted of simple marijuana possession between 1992 and 2021.
Biden making this announcement does put the pressure on States and Governors to not ignore this. This gives citizen’s leverage and builds pressure on the State and Local level to act.
From the article: Justin Strekal, a longtime cannabis lobbyist in Washington, DC, and the former political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says it’s a step in the right direction, no matter how small: “Could Biden have gone further?” he told Vox. “Yes. But now citizens around the country can leverage that example to build pressure on state and local officials to follow in his footsteps, as some governors already have.”
3: Is this because of midterms?
The number of Americans who support legalization reached a record high in 2020 with 68 percent in favor. This number will only grow and Biden could be using this to cement his progreesive legacy rather than attempting to gain voters' support.
Attorney David Holland, a partner with Prince Lobel Tye LLP and the executive director of Empire State NORML gave his perspective in the article:
“Biden doesn’t stand to gain anything by it, per se. This is only the midterm; he’s got another couple years to go,” Holland said. “I think he’s trying to align himself with progressive politics that undo at least some of the harms of the drug war, and to set up a platform for two years from now that shows him to be a leader in causes relating to equity, justice, economic development, and so on.”
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President Joe Biden’s pardon of simple cannabis possession is a step in the right direction. The amount of lives this will help will be immeasurable. The Department of Health and Human Services launching a scientific review of cannabis scheduling is a massive leap for federal cannabis policies. Like many other things, This will not be overnight, but it's going forward instead of backwards.
Read More:
The most important part of Biden’s surprise marijuana announcement [VOX]
