Biden takes important first steps toward decriminalizing marijuana

Study explains benefits of legalizing cannabis in the US 0:47

(CNN) --

President Joe Biden is taking his first major steps toward decriminalizing marijuana, fulfilling a campaign promise to erase previous federal convictions for possession and beginning the process to relax the drug's federal classification.

Biden will grant a pardon on Thursday for all previous federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, a move senior administration officials said will impact thousands of Americans.

• ANALYSIS |

  Smoking marijuana is more popular now than smoking tobacco

“Sending people to prison for marijuana possession has upended too many lives and put people in jail for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” Biden said in a statement.

“Criminal records for possession of marijuana have also imposed unnecessary barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities.

And while white, black, and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced at disproportionate rates.”

It will also encourage governors to take similar steps to pardon simple state marijuana possession charges, and task the Department of Health and Human Services and Attorney General Merrick Garland to "promptly" review how marijuana is regulated under federal law. .

The measures fall short of total decriminalization, which has enjoyed growing support among both political parties.

But they are the first significant steps by a US president to eliminate criminal penalties for marijuana possession.

advertising

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, even as individual states have moved toward legal use for recreational and medical purposes.

Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is listed on Schedule 1, meaning it "has no currently accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse."

That has left some uses open to prosecution, even in places where marijuana use is legal.

• Colombia glimpses ways to end the war on drugs: legalization of marijuana and cocaine?

As a candidate, Biden stopped short of endorsing the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes.

But he took a stance toward decriminalization.

“No one should be in jail because of marijuana.

As president, I will decriminalize cannabis use and automatically expunge prior convictions,” he said during the presidential campaign.

The relaxation of federal rules on marijuana has gained momentum in recent years as the drug becomes legal in a growing number of states.

In late 2020, the House of Representatives passed a measure that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, although it was not accepted in the Republican-controlled Senate.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Joe BidenMarijuana