Progressive lawmakers are calling on President Biden to take further steps on federal marijuana legislation earlier than his time period involves an finish in January.
In a letter despatched to Biden and Vice President Harris, Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) pushed the administration to maneuver marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule III managed substance.
The transfer would classify marijuana as a much less extreme drug that would provide some medical worth.
Although the rescheduling would symbolize progress, the lawmakers mentioned, “it will not end federal criminalization, resolve its harms, or meaningfully address the gap between federal and state cannabis policy.”
“Possession and use of recreational marijuana — and much state-legal medical marijuana — will continue to be a violation of federal law,” the letter says.
In 2022 and 2023, Biden issued pardons for individuals convicted underneath federal legislation of straightforward possession of marijuana, tried easy possession and use of marijuana.
“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Biden mentioned after his wave of 2022 pardons.
However, the letter factors out, Biden’s pardons noticed hardly anybody launched from jail as a result of few individuals have been incarcerated in federal services for the offenses.
Nonetheless, some 3,000 individuals stay incarcerated in federal prisons for different marijuana-related offenses, the letter says.
“President Biden should issue broader clemency — including another round of pardons and commutations to reduce sentences or end terms of — for individuals convicted of other cannabis-related offenses. Additionally, the President should again urge state governors to expand marijuana clemency and decriminalize low-level marijuana conduct under state law.”
The letter additionally requires the Division of Justice to replace the Obama-era “Cole Memo” to deprioritize prosecuting people for marijuana offenses which have been the topic of federal pardons or that adjust to state or Tribal legislation.
The letter follows President-elect Trump’s latest Cupboard nominations of people that have a much less favorable view of hashish.
Trump has indicated he could also be open to hashish reform: He granted clemency to some and lately wrote on Reality Social that “it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use.” He additionally mentioned he would “continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws.”
However Marty Makary, Trump’s nominee to steer the Meals and Drug Administration, has beforehand referred to as the substance “a gateway drug.” He has implied marijuana could result in cognitive decline.
In the meantime, former Florida Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi’s document on marijuana is considerably combined, although she has voted in opposition to hashish legalization within the Sunshine State. Bondi is Trump’s nominee for U.S. lawyer common.
“Rescheduling marijuana and the prior round of pardons must not be the end of this Administration’s historic work to use its executive authority to undo the damage of federal marijuana policy,” the lawmakers wrote on Tuesday.
“As we proceed to work towards laws to finish the federal criminalization marijuana and to control it responsibly and equitably, we urge immediate administrative motion to deal with the harms of criminalization — significantly for the advantage of communities most harmed by the Battle on Medicine.”
