Biden pardoning people convicted of simple marijuana possession

White House is making the moves after proposals in Congress were stuck amid opposition from some Democrats and Republicans thwarted legislation.

Joe Biden is calling on federal regulators to review how marijuana is classified as a drug. Picture: AFP

US President Biden said on Thursday he will pardon all prior federal offences of simple possession of marijuana and will call on federal regulators to review how the drug is classified.

The president called on governors to take similar actions, while saying limitations on trafficking, marketing and underage sales should stay in place.

“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has up-ended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Mr Biden said. “Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities.”

Mr Biden’s actions mark a major step toward decriminalising marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law even though 19 states and Washington, DC, have legalised adult use for recreation.

Most people are convicted for simple marijuana possession in state courts, rather than federal. Yet pardons and other steps by the federal government can carry heavy symbolic weight and prompt hesitant states and cities to follow.

The moves, which opinion polls have found are popular among a majority of Americans, come during the final weeks of close campaigns for the House of Representatives and Senate that Democrats are seeking to keep control of.

The new actions could also prove a talking point for certain Republicans, however. The Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative house members, last week released its agenda that included opposition to marijuana legalisation. Some Senate Republicans also oppose the move.

The actions could open up the Biden administration to accusations of being soft on crime, at a time when rising crime rates in some cities and areas have become a campaign issue.

“In the midst of a crime wave and on the brink of a recession, Joe Biden is giving blanket pardons to drug offenders — many of whom pleaded down from more serious charges,” Senator Tom Cotton (Republican, Arkansas) said Thursday in a tweet.

The pardons will affect 6500 people convicted of federal offences for simple possession from 1992 to 2021, as well as thousands of people in Washington, DC, according to senior administration officials. He is calling on governors to take similar actions.

The president wants to end what he calls a failed approach to marijuana that disproportionately affects people of colour with simple possession convictions, the officials said.

Among additional steps, the president will also direct the attorney general to issue certificates of pardons that individuals can show to law enforcement and employers, two administration officials said.

Mr Biden also plans to direct the Department of Health and Human Services and attorney-general to review the status of marijuana as a schedule 1 controlled substance, a category that also includes heroin and LSD, the officials said.

The president said marijuana’s status is higher than the classification of methamphetamine and fentanyl, which have driven the US overdose epidemic.

The Justice department said it will move quickly to pardon US citizens and lawful permanent residents who violated the federal controlled substances act or Washington, DC, code.

Possession of marijuana has been punishable under federal law by up to one year in jail and a minimum fine of $US1000 for a first conviction, according to the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, an advocacy group.

Decriminalisation of the drug has moved swiftly across the US in recent years, after some states and localities began allowing medicinal use. Some 36 states now allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to the Ohio State University’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Centre.

More than half of US states have legalised cannabis for some purpose, and legalisation enjoys support from more than two out of three Americans surveyed in a 2021 Gallup poll.

The president is taking the steps after some legislators in both parties expressed support for decriminalising marijuana possession, but opposition from others derailed the prospects for legislation.

Due to the political sensitivities, the Biden administration had been sidestepping taking a stand on decriminalising marijuana possession.

Yet Mr Biden, while campaigning for president, had championed loosening of marijuana laws and said he would decriminalise marijuana, which would prevent people from being incarcerated for possession, and expunge criminal records.

Under the plans, the attorney-general will develop an administrative process for issuing the certificates of pardon to eligible individuals under the plan.

“We’re happy he’s looking at marijuana as a schedule 1. Bravo, even though we thought they were already looking at schedule 1,” said Amy Povah, president of CanDo Clemency, a foundation that fights for the release of nonviolent drug offenders from prison.

She said marijuana should be decriminalised and noted that most possession charges are going to be with state convictions rather than federal.

On average, a black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though black and white people use marijuana at similar rates, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it looked at arrests from 2010 to 2018.

The Wall Street Journal