President Joe Biden is rallying young people ahead of next month\u2019s elections, in part by highlighting his recent move to pardon Americans who\u2019ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses. But the White House also said it doesn\u2019t have any update to share on the timeline for next steps on the president\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
During a pre-midterm speech on Tuesday, the president touted progress on a number of policy issues since he took office and made the case to young voters that the administration would be better positioned to build on that momentum by expanding the Democratic majority in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m keeping my promise that no one should be in jail merely for using or possessing marijuana,\u201d Biden said, eliciting applause from the audience. \u201cYou should not be in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe White House has been tracking polling on the president\u2019s popular pardon proclamation<\/a> and directive for an administrative review of cannabis scheduling, and those surveys have consistently shown that young adults are strongly in favor of the action<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now Biden is leaning into the issue with just weeks until the midterm election, which has Democrats on edge as the threat of losing their majority in either chamber of Congress looms.<\/p>\n The remarks at the rally were also brought up at a White House press briefing on Tuesday, with a reporter asking Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why \u201cwe haven\u2019t heard more about\u201d the pardon action and whether there are plans from the administration to talk more about it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe laid out our plan. You heard directly from the president on what his policy was on marijuana,\u201d Jean-Pierre said. \u201cYou heard him mention that today. I don\u2019t have any more events to lay out about specific speeches or comments about marijuana, but you heard directly from the president about what his policy is. And he kept his promise, his commitment that he made during the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden campaigned on a number of cannabis reform promises<\/a>, including rescheduling the plant, legalizing medical marijuana, expunging prior cannabis convictions and letting states set their own marijuana policies without federal intervention.<\/p>\n The scheduling directive is a step toward several of those goals, setting the stage for removing cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and potentially legalizing medical marijuana down the road, even if the president does not directly control what recommendations ultimately come down from the Justice Department and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).<\/p>\n Also, the pardon action is limited in scope<\/a>, affecting just about 6,500 people who\u2019ve committed the federal possession offense, as well as those who\u2019ve violated the law in Washington, D.C. Advocates are pushing for expanded relief for groups who weren\u2019t eligible for the clemency<\/a>, such as immigrants and those who\u2019ve been convicted under federal law for selling cannabis.<\/p>\n In any case, it\u2019s notable that Biden took the opportunity to promote the cannabis action during a speech that largely focused on reproductive rights. He also touted his moves on student loan relief, another issue that appeals to young voters.<\/p>\n Vice President Kamala Harris also said last week that voters should elect lawmakers who support marijuana reform so that Congress can enact a \u201cuniform approach\u201d to the issue in light of the president\u2019s cannabis pardons<\/a>.<\/p>\n Several Cabinet officials have cheered Biden\u2019s action and resolved to fulfill their parts of the pardon and scheduling review process.<\/p>\n The White House drug czar recently said that it\u2019s key to ensure that any decision that\u2019s made as part the federal scientific review \u201cfilters into criminal justice as well.\u201d<\/a> And when it comes to the science of cannabis, he said that there are \u201cclearly\u201d therapeutic benefits.<\/p>\n Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said that officials will be working diligently to ensure that people who received a pardon for federal marijuana offenses under the presidential proclamation\u00a0are not impeded from future job opportunities<\/a>.<\/p>\n HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has also talked about the president\u2019s directive to agencies to conduct an administrative review of cannabis\u2019s scheduling status. The health secretary said officials will \u201cwork as quickly as we can\u201d to complete the analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n DOJ, for its part, \u201cwill expeditiously administer the President\u2019s proclamation, which pardons individuals who engaged in simple possession of marijuana, restoring political, civil, and other rights to those convicted of that offense,\u201d\u00a0a department spokesperson said following Biden\u2019s announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), meanwhile, said that he appreciates the \u201csignificant\u201d step that the president has taken,\u00a0but there\u2019s \u201cmore that we can do\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to address the drug war and he\u2019s \u201cvery hopeful\u201d that additional reform can be enacted before the end of this Congress.<\/p>\n He reiterated that point in an interview published on Monday, adding that he thinks lawmakers have a \u201cgood shot\u201d at\u00a0enacting a package of increment marijuana proposals<\/a> during the lame duck session after the midterms.<\/p>\n Texas Activists Unveil Marijuana Decriminalization, Police Reform And Abortion Rights Initiative For San Antonio 2023 Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Biden Tells Young Voters \u2018I\u2019m Keeping My Promise\u2019 On Marijuana In Speech At Pre-Midterm Rally<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden is rallying young people ahead of next month\u2019s elections, in part by highlighting his recent move to pardon Americans who\u2019ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses. But the White House also said it doesn\u2019t have any update to share on the timeline for next steps on the president\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57626,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57625\/revisions\/57626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden Tells Young Voters \u2018I\u2019m Keeping My Promise\u2019 On Marijuana In Speech At Pre-Midterm Rally<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"