Joe Biden announces mass pardon for fed marijuana possession convictions. Starts process to remove Schedule 1 status

President Biden on Thursday announced that he is taking executive action to pardon people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law and D.C. statute.

The pardons will be done through an administration process to be developed by the Justice Department, senior administration officials told reporters on a briefing call, and will cover citizens and lawful permanent residents.

"Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit," Biden said in a statement.

More than 6,500 people were convicted of simple possession between 1992 and 2021 under federal law, and thousands more under D.C. code, the officials said. Biden had promised the action during his campaign.

However, most convictions happen at the state level, leaving those pardons up to each governor.

The order comes as five states, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota, have legalization measures on their ballots for November. Nineteen states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and 38 states have legalized marijuana for medical use.

Biden also announced additional actions and urges governors to act

In addition to the executive order, Biden is also urging all governors to take similar action in their states.

Biden is also asking Health and Human Services and the Justice Department to review whether marijuana should still be classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. The classification is meant for the most dangerous substances, according to Biden.

DOJ will in the coming days begin creating the process for issuing the pardons, according to a statement from Justice Department spokesperson Anthony Coley, and will work with HHS on the review of drug scheduling.

"This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine – the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic," Biden said in a statement.

The president, however, noted that "even as federal and state regulation of marijuana changes, important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and under-age sales should stay in place."

The moves do not legalize the use of marijuana.

Some marijuana advocacy groups have applauded the move. But they want the president to go further.

"We, however, hope that the Biden Administration will go further and fully deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, rather than initiate a process that could lead to rescheduling," said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in a statement. "Keeping marijuana on the federal drug schedule will mean people will continue to face criminal charges for marijuana."

GOP members, like Sen. Tom Cotton, opposed the move, calling it a blanket pardon and a "desperate attempt" at distraction.

Some Democrats have long pushed Biden to fulfill his campaign promise. In a letter sent nearly a year ago, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, and Jeff Merkley wrote to Biden urging him to issue a blanket pardon for all non-violent federal cannabis offenses.

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/06/1127302410/biden-pardon-marijuana-possession-convictions

Joe is really turning my view of him around as of late and this just adds to that turnaround for me.

What do you guys think? My understanding is this is something that majorly crosses party lines among voters.

Great move. Joe or whoever his caretaker is, is doing some good stuff.

Legalization is one thing, but it should also come with education. People start thinking that because it's legal it has not harmful effects.

It should be like cigarettes that are legal but heavily adviced against.

I remember the other day, in the hubberman podcast he was saying currently 15% of women consume marihuana (edible, smoked or vaped) during pregnancy and that much of the population was convinced there were no negative health effects.

But this thing fucks your hormones, it can reduce short and long term memory and it slowly degrades cognitive skills and speech capacity.

And the younger you are when you are taking it, the worst the effects.

@kathaariancode: evidently is some sort of caretaker. The guy should be resting at home with his state of health and age...

Great news. This will ultimately save a lot of money, and reduce the prison population by a large amount. If this trend continues, it will even generate a lot of tax revenue.

Genuinely surprised by this, too; Biden tends to lean conservative when it comes to drug policies and enforcement.

Damn, I didn't think I'd see Democrats acquire the political courage to pull the trigger.

This is a big deal. The War on Drugs has caused incalculable damage.

Biden keeps racking up wins!

Bout time.

Great, nothing bad to see here. Biden for another win.

Naturally, Republicans will have to be against this. Weed probably makes people's kids gay.

They need to have a special prison for those people. I started to smell that shit smell often when driving my car from idiots who smoke it in vehicles. How the hell are you allowed to do that in a vehicle and get pardoned. 'people' smoking that stuff are complete idiots. I can't imagine them allowed to smoke that stuff anywhere really. It's still drugs and if you are near other people especially kids it should never be allowed. Imagine having a baby and someone is smoking it and your baby is inhaling marijuana smoke. Lul.

@eni232: Same as tobacco really.

Marijuana products already have Surgeon General warnings and all that.

Everything else you said just sounds like you've never consumed weed but you hold outdated opinions about it.

At the end of the day, you can't trust the failed education of Marijuana when they used to class it in the same category of heroin. It turns out, potheads are the ones that ended up educating the world and the world has finally woken up. It's time for you to catch on.

About time. Alcohol has been proven to be far more harmful long term, yet it's legal. So it would be hypocritical to keep weed illegal.

Not to say it's completely benign or anything, just less harmful than something else that's already legal. No point to keep people in jail if all they ever did was smoke or possess weed.

I find it hilarious you have to put "people" in quotation marks, like you hesitate to call them people. I think that says a lot more about you than it does a person smoking pot.

You know like they say, there's a time and place for everything, and driving a car and hanging out with kids is not the right environments. That's just a very narrow tunnel vision you have there.

Like alcohol and tobacco, Marijuana will be regulated too. Last I checked, you have to be legal age to buy it and you can still get a DUI.

@jaydan: i have consumed marijuana a long time ago. When I was a teenager and even then Not habitually.

But honestly consumption doesn't provide knowledge . Even if I admit I am not an expert on it, it's not because of that.

My knowledge of it come from the podcast of Standford neurologist Andrew hubberman.

I don't know in which way this knowledge is outdated. I don't think it is, but If you think so, you should provide a rebuttal instead of a blanket negative without any information.

Other than that it seems like you are saying, marihuana does not affect hormonal balance, does not lead to short and long term memory degradation and does not lead to gradual thinning of the frontal cortex.

But studies show it does, so why would you say this information is outdated?

I did not state that consuming it provides knowledge, but in year 2022 clenching to certain arguments is simply outdated, usually by those who don't consume it at all.

Like the cognitive degradation bit is outdated. For 1: isn't that kinda the point of being high? I'd be disappointed if I got no high off weed, and 2: it's not long-term. There are not long-term cognitive effects like you suggest. If they are a heavy user it might seem that way, but then when they stop give them about a week or two and have it out of their system; nah, their brains aren't broken, they were just high.

I know Masters and PhD people who are regular users, yet somehow they do just fine having high educations and working difficult jobs. Myself included, it never prevented me from getting an education and making great career advances with great praise from my colleagues and superiors alike.

There's way more stoners in this world beyond the "sup brah" stereotype, and you'd be amazed to see how many there are in actually advanced positions. People need to stop looking at weed like it's a person's identity.

A) Obviously you're not. A DUI is still a DUI regardless of whether what was impairing you was legal. The pardons are for people convicted of possession.

B) Smoking cigarettes is legal but isn't allowed pretty much anywhere anymore outside your home and outdoors. In places where weed is legal you're not allowed to smoke it pretty much anywhere outside of a home.

@jaydan: i am referring to peer reviewed studies in well recognized journals that show there is long term cognitive degradation

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cognitive-effects-of-long-term-cannabis-use-in-midlife-202206142760

Not anecdotal evidence based on people you know.

And cognitive decline may not happen fast enough or pronounced enough for some people to become unable to aquire higher education. ( It will depend on many things like age when started, frequency of use, THC content of the strain they are using, density of the other Psychostimulant of the strain, original cognitive capacity, age of measurement)

It definitely doesn't mean it's not happening.

Just like lowering of your testosterone doesn't mean you will immediately get manboobs or that everyone that smokes will get manboobs. It just means your testosterone will be comparatively lower than what it would naturally be and weed consumers in general will have lower testosterone.

Even many of their own voters are for legalization, so instead they'll go for the Biden letting criminals out of prison angle.

Dark Brandon is the best president the US has had since Eisenhower. It is a shame his administration has only been around for around 2 months, and might end soon.

@nirgal: 100% agree that along with legalization should come education.

Weed is not unlike alcohol, can and be really nice but people should be aware of side effects and incentivated to consume it with moderation.

@LJS9502_basic: I think the Jury is still out on this one, but I would bet money that second hand marijuana smoke is less harmful to one's health than second hand tobacco smoke. Assuming you're not sitting in the bathroom hotboxing the place with your kids in there of course.

@byshop: ciggarets are not the same as weed. One is a drug the other is not. It also clears much faster in air than weed. They should of made stricter laws for people getting weed. These monkeys are going around using it as food from what i realized. They need to keep people that use it in certain areas away from the regular people. Apartments, homes etc. I smell it often on the road. I dont know what the laws are here for it where i live but it needs to be as strict as possible.

@eni232: Tobacco (nicotine) is definitely a drug and highly addictive and causes many many deaths.

@kathaariancode: actually my advice would be better not smoke it or do it very rarely.

Even if I agree it should be legal (only to take income away from dealers), it fucks up crucial parts of your body (your brain and hormones) so better not use it and better restrict where it can be used so other people are not influenced by it.

And I think the same about alcohol use. It should be adviced against and taxed more agressively. The only difference is that there is no second hand drinking so you don't need to be so restrictive about where you drink.

@nirgal: I'll have to check out your article later, but I still cast major doubts of your hypothesis. Remember, Marijuana is still being researched and studied under a medical umbrella, and it will still take many years for legitimate data to come out. Just because data comes out does not mean it's a significant effect on the human mind. Next week you can see an article from the same source painting cannabis under a positive light as well. That's just the way that science and health research works. You will always see studies that suggest something negative and then others that suggest something positive. Research after all, is still very active and ongoing.

At the end of the day you're ignoring the VERY REAL physical and mental degradation of alcohol that completely destroys lives by the thousands all the time, how growing of age is a natural cognitive decline, and it ignores how tobacco such casually kills all the time too. Weed just does not compare to what's already legalized and it's not even a debate. I agree with educating though, that has always been a part of the Legalization gambit. I can't say I've ever run into even the most dimwitted pothead and be against the education of it. It turns out, the vast majority are pro-cannabis education.

Your research is simply missing a lot of stuff, like benefits. Every substance including prescription drugs, can and do have negative side-effects. You need to guage the pros and cons and what benefits (or lack of) there are before just taking one negative angle and seeing it from only that angle.

Do I think everyone should be smoking pot? Nah. But do I think every legal age should have the right and accessibility to consume it if they choose? Absolutely.

I was referring to his pearl clutching over where it would be smoked. Smoking anything is not good for lungs but as long as they don't smoke in public, I really don't care. And those who smoke around there children are just irresponsible but it happens already. Which was my point.

Exactly, these are all drugs. tobacco, alcohol, etc, are all drugs. The CDC estimates that tobacco deaths account for 480,000 annually including those from secondhand smoke (roughly a fifth of the number of people who die each year in the US).

@eni232: Ease off on the name calling, please. Discussing the issue is fine but you're getting close to slur territory. We get that you don't like weed smokers and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that "monkeys" was not intended as a racial slur but best to avoid the name calling altogether.

I wonder if Biden consulted Jackie first.

I think it's reasonable depending on the case details but I don't agree with any blanket pardons. Pardons should always be done on a case by case basis but I see the reasoning behind addressing misd. simple drug possession.

Waiting on the usual spin doctors to come in here and spin this. *cough* Eoten, JimB, SargentD *cough*

Although I'm not a fan of weed, I think this a good move. Free up space for people who have committed far much worse crimes...

It should still be case by case though. Illegal distributors should be handled different than those who simply were caught with a small amount in their pocket...

Biden is changing his stance, Thirty years ago he wrote the bill to put these same people in jail.

You do know most people do change their stance as new information comes available? Those that don't merely use talking points for votes.

Wouldn't that take too long? Or could they just filter them through like "if only charged with possession, then set free" or "if violent crime, don't set free"?

Seems like case-by-case would take a while. I could imagine being in jail for whatever, hearing this news, then being like "Oh well it's going to be a couple months before the judge will review it".

@nirgal: I know a ton of people that work in highly scientific areas that have very successful careers and consume thc with moderation for decades. Same with people who work in technical translation.

I'm sure there's some contraindications but I'm also sure it's nothing significant.

I'll not say the same for heavy users, I know a few and they are definitely burned out.

But this isn't legalization, it's just decriminalisation.

Is Reefer Madness your favorite anti-drug movie?

Nicotine has been proven to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin and may even be more addictive.

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/conditions/nicotine-dependence

A work mate i've known for 11 years was diagnosed with throat cancer lately. After two years working in different companies we've met again, and when i saw him i was a little shocked. He looked bad, his demonour was different... depressive... i felt there was something up. Well, it wasn't hard to miss as down as he looked. But at that time he didn't know about the cancer... until a few months later.

A neighbour of mine was an alcoholic. The last time i saw him i hardly recorgnized him. I remember, one time he had to attend a hospital. While he was there, they needed to give him beer... because of liver cirrhosis... or he would die.

How will the prison complex survive?

Pretty sure just fine since there's no one in prison for this. lmao

It's for misdemeanor convictions. There is no one in federal custody for simple possession. lol Even the White House said this in their press conference.

@byshop:

Lul racial slur towards who? I don't know of one race smoking weed. You are probably believing it as that yourself. When you think of monkeys who do you think of race wise. Lul. I think of no one but stupid in human form if I'm referencing someone as a monkey.

@eni232: You can look that up yourself if you want. Like I said, I gave you the benefit of the doubt that it's not what you meant but in the future avoiding name calling altogether is the safer bet.

That's even worse, an untapped resource here.

This is a good step. Far too many people in jail for something like this. And these same people call Marijuana a gateway drug. Then what the heck is cigarettes supposed to be? Cigarettes do far more damage and cost our health care billions, if not trillions in dollars. I don't know of anybody who's died from smoking too much weed.

Lol. You really don't know shit on the topic of drugs, but you sure love to generalize and fling insults. There should be a special prison for stoners? Lol, get real. All your postings in this thread highlight your bad attitude, your bad takes, and painful ignorance on the subject.

Ironic you seem to claim to have an intellectual superiority complex over pot users, yet you have the least intelligent posts in this thread.

We hear you: you have disdain against pothead; get over yourself.

@kathaariancode: the study showed 5 IQ points reduction by middle age compared to control group.

People should be free to make their own desitions, but they should do so while being aware of all the information available, including knowing the consequences. (And that's one among many)

Same with tabaco and alcohol.(both of which are also terrible for you)

@jaydan: Maybe is a special prison because it's really chill?

Here is another studying showing thinning in the pre frontal cortex related to adolescent cannabis use.

For those that don't know that is the area in the brain in which high function actitivies are done.( Like abstract thinking, planning, top down control, etc)

https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/addiction/cannabis-use-disorder/increased-use-of-cannabis-in-adolescence-associated-with-altered-neurodevelopment/

"This study identified an association between cannabis use during adolescence and thinning of the left and right prefrontal cortices. According to the researchers, “the findings underscore the importance of further longitudinal studies of adolescent cannabis use, particularly given increasing trends in the legalization of recreational cannabis use.”"

And this is not even taking in to consideration how it fucks up your hippocampus (that is super important for memory)

https://news.ohsu.edu/2022/01/25/chronic-marijuana-use-negatively-impacts-male-reproductive-health-may-decrease-testicular-function

This is study about how it can have a negative impact in male reproductive health.

It should be noted that different studies have found differences in how it influences your hormones, but the constant finding has been that marihuana users have different sex hormone concentration compared to non smokers, that by itself tell you, it's throwing your system out of balance.

@jaydan:

I don't know if you pot heads are born stupid or just live in the sky All DAY. Nicotine does not have a effect on you like drugs do or marijuana. You literally should not be driving while high or really doing anything for that matter. People take smoke breaks that work in hospitals for gods sake. Yes it's bad for the person smoking health wise but they are not impaired like when 'people' smoke weeds.

@eni232: dude, your point can come across better if you skip the insults...