Could this be the beginning of the end of the ‘war on drugs’?
by Jay Jackson October 7, 2022
US President Joe Biden has officially announced that all prior federal offences of cannabis possession are to be pardoned, urging state governors and legislators to do the same.
In a significant step towards fulfilling his US presidential election campaign pledge to decriminalise cannabis use, Biden on Thursday pardoned all prior federal offences of simple marijuana possession.
Whilst currently nobody is in federal prison solely for possession of marijuana as most convictions occur at state level, US officials estimate about 6,500 people with federal convictions for possession of marijuana will benefit.
Biden’s pardons will be issued through an administration process overseen by the Justice Department, a senior administration official said. Those eligible for the pardons would receive a certificate showing they had been officially forgiven for their crime.
The move will be nothing short of transformative for the lives of people currently living with these convictions, given the extremely detrimental impact a criminal record has on job prospects, housing, travel and a number of other life opportunities. It will also have an outsized impact on the lives of people of colour, given their disproportionate rate of conviction for drug possession offences.
Cannabis is already legal recreationally in 19 states and Washington DC, whilst medical use is legal in 37 states and three US territories. However, confusingly, weed remains illegal at the federal level, even in states where it can be legally bought and used, meaning people there could still be convicted for possession in certain circumstances.
In late 2020, the House passed a measure that would decriminalise marijuana at the federal level, though it wasn’t taken up in the then Republican-controlled Senate. More recently, the senate (now in Democrat hands) has passed similar legislation, but the House has yet to vote on it.
President Biden is not the first US president to pardon those convicted of cannabis offences. At the end of his presidency, Donald Trump pardoned 12 people, including some who had been jailed for life under the three-strikes rule created by Biden’s infamous 1994 crime bill that significantly toughened sanctions for drug offences and created a huge racial disparity in the US criminal justice system.
In his long career in the US Senate, Biden, who over the years expressed strong opposition to legalising cannabis, was an architect or supporter of tough-on-crime legislation, including the creation of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, also known as the “drug czar,” and establishing mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana.
In addition to the pardons, Biden has asked Health & Human Services Secretary, Xavier Beccera and Attorney General Merrick Garland to review the schedule of cannabis under federal law – it is currently classified at the same level as Heroin and above fentanyl.
In a series of tweets, the President said ‘no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.’
According to CNN, ‘The President and a small circle of White House aides had been wrangling for weeks over the changes, complicated both by Biden’s own personal scepticism about decriminalisation and not wanting to dictate changes to the Justice Department.’
The timing of the announcement is not random or coincidental. White House aides have been watching the calendar with the upcoming midterms in mind, hoping that the changes long sought by criminal justice advocates will help build enthusiasm among Black voters, younger voters and a wider array of core Democratic voters.
With the backlash against the Roe vs Wade Supreme court ruling and now this progressive cannabis reform, it is clear Biden is intent on campaigning on issues of social justice.
The move should be viewed in the context of a US initiated and led ‘war on drugs’ that has caused untold misery and damage across the globe, and President Biden’s significant individual role in creating the racial disparities he is now seeking to overturn.
But make no mistake, this is a monumental step towards enacting social justice in drug policies. Whilst similar pardons have been enacted elsewhere, the symbolism of it being done in the US means that a precedent has now been set that will be hard for other countries to ignore when they inevitably join the growing number of nations enacting progressive cannabis reforms around the world.
You can read the full statement from the White House here.
OP-ED: PRESIDENT BIDEN'S PARDON OF THOSE IMPRISONED FOR MARIJUANA POSSESSION IS WILDLY OVERDUE
Image: Hiob/Getty Images
By Savannah Taylor | October 6, 2022
Since the beginning of his tenure in office, Joe Biden has been questioned for his ability to uphold the promises and solutions he vowed to make once elected—rightfully so, as it is import to hold our elected officials accountable at all times. After it was announced that he would be providing much-needed student loan relief to debt-ridden college graduates, his favorability began to look more optimistic in the eyes of those disadvantaged. Today, President Biden announced that he would be pardoning all those who have been convicted of marijuana possession under federal law. In addition to this, Biden is also aiming to loosen the classification restrictions of marijuana, which could potentially lead to full legalization.
This is major. This is an effect of the longstanding work done by activists in the struggle for total prison reform.
What is most significant about Biden's words is that he fused together the divide that alleged that white individuals consume weed at a lower rate than Black and Brown communities, which is simply not true. We know that, the streets know that and the government knows that. Although weed is now legal in many states across the U.S., decriminalization of marijuana in tandem with legalization has always been the ultimate goal.
There is a vast and distinctive correlation to the way in which the criminaliziation of drugs has been aimed toward people of color in the United States. For over fifty years, the fallout from President Ronald Reagan's anti-drug policy, known as the War on Drugs, has significantly and tremendously impacted Black and Brown communities. This policy has been a dogwhistle for the subjugation of Black and Brown people and has inherently altered the construction of both of these communities. While we can take a moment to find joy in this win, it cannot be overlooked that Biden is righting wrong in a way that has been way overdue.
Thousands upon thousands of people have been wrongfully and nonsensically imprisoned for decades for nonviolent offenses, specifically for the possession of marijuana. As a result, their humanity, their families and the their God-given rights have been stripped away in the name of this racist institution. Should they ever be released, there is no remedy for the psychological and societal toll that such an ordeal places upon them. How can we continue to claim the title of "land of the free" while simultaneously causing irreversible harm to our citizens in the same breath?
Aside from the tremendous amount of funds that can be reallocated toward more responsive, effective and inclusive community safety initiatives or other issues in the U.S., the legalization and decriminalization of weed can also significantly lower the direct devastation of trafficking and violence in our communities at large.
It is without question that many outside the Black and Brown community will benefit from this action as well. However, this historic pardon is a reminder that if one of us—namely Black and Brown folks—are free, then we all get free. There is an immense amount of healing that needs to be done.
Though this may appear as a step toward an end, we are still simply at the beginning. There is still a great deal of work to be done to end unfair practices in the criminal justice system that are racially biased. We have a lot more of our brethren who need to be freed that we cannot forget.
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