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United States News

Biden Pardons All Federal Simple Marijuana Possession Offenses (arstechnica.com) 316

President Biden on Thursday announced that he is pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession and encouraged state governors to do the same for state offenses. He also directed federal officials to review how marijuana is classified under the Controlled Substances Act. From a report: "There are thousands of people who have prior federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result," Biden said in a statement. "My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions." The blazing announcement means that all prior charges, convictions, and not-yet-prosecuted offenses will be pardoned. The Justice Department will set up an administrative process for those affected to obtain a certificate of pardon. Senior administration officials estimated that over 6,500 people will get federal pardons and thousands more with convictions under code in the District of Columbia will be impacted. However, the officials noted that there are currently no people in federal prisons solely on simple marijuana possession convictions. The vast majority of simple marijuana possession convictions are state convictions, which will not be affected by the federal pardons. That's why Biden has called upon governors to extend the pardons to those charges.
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Biden Pardons All Federal Simple Marijuana Possession Offenses

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  • Now we need to figure out banking for the marijuana industry.

  • Posted 21 minutes late
  • by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:50PM (#62944619) Homepage
    Why is he wasting time with this stupid dance and pony show? Cannabis has NO reason to be illegal, it's not a dangerous drug, and it's not a threat to society. Even if you don't accept cannabis as a medicine, which isn't even debatable as it is a medicine, there's no reason to keep illegal from a recreation stand point, especially seeing how Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are legal.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      They try to make this a partisan issue. It isn't. Cannabis should never have been illegal. It is an herbal remedy with a long established history (thousands of years) of safe use. By the FDA's own guidelines it belongs on the herbal supplement shelf with no need to establish any sort of medical efficacy.

      • ^^ This.
      • by hey! ( 33014 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @06:06PM (#62944887) Homepage Journal

        Well, without endorsing its supposed medical effects, it became a bugbear because it was associated with blacks, Latinos, and hippies. That's why we call it "marijuana" rather than by the names English speakers had been calling it all along, "cannabis" and "hemp".

        John Erlichman, Nixon's domestic policy czar, discussing the political reasoning behind declaring the "War on Drugs", noted,

        The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people....

        We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

        Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.

        source [harpers.org]

        In other words, all the billions of dollars spent on going after pot, all the millions of arrests and hundreds of thousands of people put into jail ... all that originated in a calculated abuse of law enforcement authority for political ends.

        • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Friday October 07, 2022 @04:15AM (#62945993) Journal

          In other words, all the billions of dollars spent on going after pot, all the millions of arrests and hundreds of thousands of people put into jail ... all that originated in a calculated abuse of law enforcement authority for political ends.

          Political ends with a massively racist slant to it.

          Now, what's interesting is that the group that came up with these almost explicitly racist laws are the ones that really hate critical race theory, which (don't believe what a right winger tells you about something they hate), well, let's quote:

          CRT is also used in sociology to explain social, political, and legal structures and power distribution as through a âoelensâ focusing on the concept of race, and experiences of racism.

          Well, in large part it's about how laws and societal structures can be set up either by accident or with malice to be racist even if there's no actual mention of race in the laws. We have well documented evidence of the racism (which you quoted), but people really really hate that being taught.

      • by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @06:42PM (#62945035)

        Well, one party has passed multiple bills in the House legalizing Cannabis.

        The other party kills those bills when they arrive at the Senate, thanks to either controlling the chamber or using the filibuster.

        It is a partisan issue.

    • by ladydi89 ( 1159055 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:58PM (#62944653)
      You are contradicting yourself. Biden is not wasting his time if you believe cannabis should be legal. Biden doesn't have the power to federally legalize cannabis, that is the responsibility of congress. Biden does have the power of pardon. The point of this action was to embarrass and shame the legislators from red states who have held up the federal legalization of cannabis. He is trying to further his argument that republicans don't work on issues that middle and lower class americans (who are the majority) really care about.
      • by redmid17 ( 1217076 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @05:22PM (#62944735)
        Yes he does. He appoints the HHS secretary who has the full authorzation to de-schedule or reschedule marijuana:

        After the DEA accepts the filing of a petition, the agency must request from the HHS Secretary "a scientific and medical evaluation, and his recommendations, as to whether such drug or other substance should be so controlled or removed as a controlled substance." The Secretary's findings on scientific and medical issues are binding on the DEA. The HHS Secretary can even unilaterally legalize cannabis: "[I]f the Secretary recommends that a drug or other substance not be controlled, the Attorney General shall not control the drug or other substance." 21 U.S.C. 811(b).
      • Instead of making a statement about "pardoning cannabis convictions", make a statement that "cannabis should be legalized, and as a first move we'll pardon all federal cannabis convictions.", followed up with, "There is no reason for cannabis to be an illegal substance.". That's what I meant by dog and pony show, he's trying to dress up his intentions instead of just coming out and making them clear.
      • Please read aaaaaaalll the way to the second sentence of TFSummary.

    • by garyisabusyguy ( 732330 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:59PM (#62944657)

      The problem is that the Senate kills every single cannabis legalization bill that makes it out of the House of Representatives

      The President does have the ability to affect the Scheduling that cannabis falls under (just like dick Nixon forced cannabis to be schedule 1 with heroin and LSD) and how the cases are prosecuted, so President Biden is doing what he can

      All Americans could go vote and change the Senate to Democratic hands , which would allow for total legalization, but this is a move in the right direction

      • Is it still that way tho now that McConnell isnt the senate majority leader anymore? I know Chuck Schummer was all about legalization. Maybe this will get the ball rolling.

        • by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @06:46PM (#62945057)

          A legalization bill can't be passed under reconciliation, so it can be filibustered.

          Doesn't matter who is majority leader when it comes to legalization. Republicans either kill the bill because they control the chamber, or kill the bill because they filibuster.

      • It's not "the Senate" that's killing cannabis legalization efforts, it's Republicans in the Senate [rollcall.com].

        The 220-204 vote on the bill, which would decriminalize the possession and use of marijuana, fell mostly along party lines Friday.

        (Emphasis mine.)

    • I think it was only made illegal for economic reasons. You're supposed to get your kicks from careerism, moving up the property ladder, buying a new car every 3 years to keep the great American economy going. If everyone is content with sitting in a shack by a lake smoking weed and having the odd shag the corporate overlords will have a huge problem
      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        I think it was only made illegal for economic reasons. You're supposed to get your kicks from careerism, moving up the property ladder, buying a new car every 3 years to keep the great American economy going. If everyone is content with sitting in a shack by a lake smoking weed and having the odd shag the corporate overlords will have a huge problem

        Fiber producers also had a say in it. Hemp is a thing you know with many useful properties but it would devestate the fiber industry for things like paper, ropes

      • No, it was made illegal for political reasons.

        According to the people who made it illegal: [harpers.org]

        The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people....

        We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

        Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.

        In addition, the folks enforcing prohibition weren't about to give up their power when prohibition ended, so they leapt upon other substances. They just didn't criminalize them as much as Nixon did.

    • Biden cannot by himself legalize pot. He can unilaterally pardon those convicted under the law. It takes Congress to act or a really long decriminalization process through the FDA to change the law.

    • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      It's been kept illegal to date due to it being a revenue source, as well as power, for government.

      Largely due to the CIA's interests in maintaining coercive political control over large parts of South America, but also for the massive state prison industry.

      And if it's something you can't campaign on, either pro or con, then it's of little value to a politician.

    • absolutely no.
      Once federally legalized, borders have to be opened. As such, CHina and Drug lords will DUMP on America. No thank you.
      Keep it state level legal only.
  • by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @04:52PM (#62944623)
    from private prison investors, cop unions, and authoritarians. Though this is actually a tiny amount of pardons, since he has no power to pardon state offenses, and most victimless crimes are enforced at the state level, not Federal.
    • cop unions may want the cops to do real crime and not waste the time / paper work / jail space on small bit's of weed

    • from private prison investors, cop unions, and authoritarians.

      AND pharmaceutical companies!

    • victimless? A great deal of the pot that was bought before any states legalized, came through gangs and drug lords. Do NOT tell me that these are victimless.
  • by Miles_O'Toole ( 5152533 ) on Thursday October 06, 2022 @05:38PM (#62944799)

    In 2018, Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party government finally fulfilled a campaign promise and legalized marijuana in Canada. This long-overdue measure was accompanied by much weeping and gnashing of teeth from conservatives. There were dire predictions of moral degeneracy, imminent social collapse and carnage on the roads, thanks to a massive increase in marijuana use. The health care system, it was said, would crumble under a massive influx of victims physically and/or psychologically addicted to the pernicious weed. Canada's perch near the top of the annual list of "Best Places to Live" would soon be nothing but a sad memory.

    So almost exactly four years later, how do things look? Well, we now have proof that the situation is exactly as predicted by those who advocated for decades to have marijuana legalized. For years and years, in spite of the best efforts of law enforcement and the hysterical ranting of Canada's political and religious right, everybody who wanted pot had been getting it. Legalization has had very little effect, except to clear the dockets of courts that had been forced to deal with hundreds of penny-ante charges brought by thirsty cops looking to pad their arrest statistics. Also, there are now lots of small marijuana shops providing OK jobs to average folks. Predictions that such places would become breeding grounds for crime and underage drug use have, unsurprisingly, proved false.

    So there's your large-scale feasibility study, guys. We legalized it. Everything's fine. We're still acknowledged around the world as one of the best places to live. And we're right next door. So come on, America...loosen up, eh. Join(t) us!

  • A dime bag is obviously personal use, but what about 100 g? Or 500 g?
    Do the feds consider that personal or trafficking?
  • by dragonturtle69 ( 1002892 ) on Friday October 07, 2022 @12:35AM (#62945755)

    A branch of government intentionally neglects its role, and the conversation on /. is about partisan politics.

    The executive branch enforces laws. Choosing to not enforce a law has the same effect as overturning a law, or legislation, the thing that belongs to the legislative branch.

    Do not worry, the other team will do the same thing to a law that its base does not like.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical." -- Jon Carroll

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