President Biden Announces Initial Steps Toward Decriminalizing Marijuana Possession

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President Joe Biden is trying to make good on his campaign promise of decriminalizing marijuana possession.

POTUS shared the three-part course of action his administration plans to use to tackle the task on his Twitter on Oct. 6.

Biden’s first effort is to pardon all the “prior federal offenses” of those convicted for “simple marijuana possession.”

The second measure is to encourage governors to pardon marijuana possession offenses at the state level.

“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,” the President tweeted.

“As federal and state regulations change, we still need important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales of marijuana,” he added elsewhere in his Twitter thread.

Biden also shared that he’s asking members of his administration “to initiate the process off reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.”

As the president explained, “We [in America] classify marijuana at the same level as herion — and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense.”

Biden explained his hope that the steps taken toward decriminalizing marijuana possession will lessen the “burden” of those marginalized due to their convictions.

“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” President Biden said in one tweet.

“Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives – for conduct that is legal in many states,” he added in another post. “That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs.”

In a video Biden filmed about the action steps, he also highlighted that marijuana convictions have disproportionally impacted Black and Brown communities.

“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.”

All things considered, Biden was to correct the nation’s “failed approach” to the criminalization of marijuana possession.

See his posts below.

Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. Hear from @POTUS on the three steps he is taking to right these wrongs. pic.twitter.com/IqOxHxjgue

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 6, 2022

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.

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 6, 2022

I’d also like to note that as federal and state regulations change, we still need important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales of marijuana.

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 6, 2022