It\u2019s been nearly a year since President Joe Biden took office, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) says it\u2019s past time for executive action on marijuana reform and other issues.<\/p>\n
As congressional Democrats fret over the likely defeat of a large-scale social spending bill after a moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced\u00a0 over the weekend that he will oppose it, Ocasio-Cortez is urging the president to start taking unilateral action on various progressive policies, including cannabis.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiden needs to lean on his executive authority now. He has been delaying and underutilizing it so far,\u201d she tweeted on Monday. \u201cThere is an enormous amount he can do on climate, student debt, immigration, cannabis, health care, and more. Time is running out\u2014we need to move and use alternative paths.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBiden needs to lean on his executive authority now. He has been delaying and underutilizing it so far. There is an enormous amount he can do on climate, student debt, immigration, cannabis, health care, and more.<\/p>\n
Time is running out \u2013 we need to move and use alternative paths.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 20, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Ocasio-Cortez, who recently filed a bipartisan bill to incentivize state-level cannabis expungements<\/a>, has been critical Biden when it comes to cannabis. Even before he was elected, she told Marijuana Moment that his remarks on the campaign trail about cannabis as a potential gateway drug amounted to \u201cReagan-era talking points.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that marijuana, due to the failures of U.S. policy, is a gateway to is our mass incarceration system,\u201d she said at the time.<\/p>\n
The congresswoman was among the first to suggest that Biden use executive authority to advance marijuana reform, joining 36 of her colleagues on a letter to the president in February that implored him to grant mass pardons to people with federal cannabis convictions.\u00a0Biden recently received a follow-up letter demanding a status update<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A pair of Republican lawmakers last week sent Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a separate letter criticizing their \u201clack of action\u201d and \u201ccontinued silence\u201d<\/a> on marijuana reform and urging the administration to reschedule cannabis under federal law. They first made the request in July<\/a>.<\/p>\n
These are just the latest examples of legislators taking a demand for reform directly to the president, who has disappointed advocates in his first year in office by declining to take meaningful steps to change the country\u2019s approach to cannabis despite campaigning on a pro-decriminalization and pro-rescheduling platform.<\/p>\n
Since the election, neither the president or vide president\u2014who sponsored a legalization bill while serving in the Senate\u2014have spoken about their cannabis campaign pledges. And so far, the only pardons to take place under the Biden administration have\u00a0benefited turkeys at a ceremonial Thanksgiving event<\/a>.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s despite the repeated pleas of lawmakers and advocates.<\/p>\n
Last month, a group of senators separately sent a letter urging Biden to use his executive authority<\/a>\u00a0to grant a mass pardon for people with non-violent marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led that letter, said during a recent interview that Biden could boost the economy and promote racial equity\u00a0with the \u201cstroke of a pen\u201d by granting the relief<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to\u00a0grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses<\/a>. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.<\/p>\n
Relatedly, a\u00a0group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, law enforcement professionals and academics\u00a0signed a letter that was delivered to Biden<\/a>\u00a0in September, urging him to issue a \u201cfull, complete and unconditional pardon\u201d to all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n
That letter came just as the administration started encouraging about\u00a01,000 people who were temporarily placed on home confinement for federal drug offenses<\/a>\u00a0to fill out clemency application forms.<\/p>\n
Warren and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately\u00a0sent a letter to the attorney general in October<\/a>, making the case that the Justice Department should initiate a marijuana descheduling process in order to \u201callow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit, begin to remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws, and facilitate valuable medical research.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House said in August that the president was\u00a0looking into using his executive authority<\/a>\u00a0to grant clemency to people with certain non-violent drug convictions.<\/p>\n
In April, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on Biden\u2019s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana and said that process\u00a0will start with modestly rescheduling cannabis<\/a>\u2014a proposal that advocates say wouldn\u2019t actually accomplish what she\u2019s suggesting.<\/p>\n
Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn\u2019t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category\u2014which currently includes cocaine\u2014also carries significant penalties.<\/p>\n
\nNew York Senator Files Bill To Extend Marijuana Equity Benefits To Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Photo elements courtesy of Russia<\/a> and nrkbeta<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
The post AOC Calls On Biden To Use Executive Authority On Marijuana Policy As President\u2019s Agenda Stalls In Congress<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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