WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday introduced he’ll take govt motion to pardon 1000’s of individuals convicted of marijuana possession underneath federal regulation.
“Sending folks to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated folks for conduct that many states not prohibit,” Biden mentioned in a press release. “Prison data for marijuana possession have additionally imposed pointless boundaries to employment, housing, and academic alternatives. And whereas white and Black and brown folks use marijuana at related charges, Black and brown folks have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate charges.”
A senior administration official mentioned they estimate over 6,500 folks with prior federal convictions for easy possession of marijuana shall be pardoned.
Biden mentioned he would additionally encourage governors to take related motion with state offenses and would ask the Division of Well being and Human Companies and the Division of Justice to “provoke the executive course of to evaluation expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled underneath federal regulation.”
Federal regulation at present classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, the identical classification as heroin and LSD.
In a name with reporters, a senior administration official mentioned that 1000’s of individuals with prior convictions for marijuana possession are denied housing, employment or instructional alternatives consequently. “This pardon will assist relieve these collateral penalties,” they mentioned.
