President Joe Biden says that issuing mass pardons for federal marijuana possession offenses is one of the top things he\u2019s done to improve the lives of Black Americans since taking office. However, he appears to be to overstating the practical impact of his action.<\/p>\n
In a radio interview on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show on Tuesday, the host pressed Biden on what he\u2019s done help the Black community at this point, nearly two years into his term. The president quickly responded by citing the cannabis pardon proclamation he issued last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I hope I\u2019ve improved the lives of African Americans like I said I would do,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, too many African Americans were denied everything from Pell Grants, student loans, housing, et cetera, because they were arrested for possession of marijuana\u2014many too many. Whites as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSo anybody who was ever arrested just for the possession of marijuana, their record is expunged,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to list it anymore, and it\u2019s going to free up a lot of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a presidential pardon represents formal forgiveness for the covered offense\u2014in this case, simple possession of marijuana\u2014it\u2019s not the same thing as an expungement where the crime is wiped from a person\u2019s record, contrary to Biden\u2019s claim in the radio interview.<\/p>\n
A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report<\/a> published in 2016 discusses conflicting interpretations of the impact of a pardon, with the general consensus being that it may restore certain rights but it does not clear a person\u2019s record in the same way as an expungement.<\/p>\n The report says that \u201ca pardon recipient may still encounter hurdles when character is a factor of eligibility because a pardon does not eliminate underlying guilt or the commission of the offense itself.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to ongoing collateral consequences of a conviction, CRS said that there may be circumstances where employment could still be affected, even with a pardon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued presence of a conviction on a person\u2019s record, notwithstanding a pardon, could still raise barriers with respect to such person\u2019s suitability,\u201d it says. In contrast, \u201can expungement of one\u2019s records generally appears to go a step beyond the effect of a pardon and removes the record of the conviction as well as the underlying guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n A pardon is believed to restore certain rights, however, such as the ability to buy and possess firearms. In that example, there\u2019s specific federal statute in place that provides for that relief.<\/p>\n With respect to expungement, a\u00a0key House committee approved a series of criminal justice reform bills<\/a> in September\u2014including bipartisan proposals to clear records for prior federal marijuana convictions and provide funding for states that implement systems of automatic expungements.<\/p>\n While advocates have cheered the president\u2019s current clemency move, as well as his comments asking governors to provide take similar actions at the state level and directing an administrative review of marijuana scheduling, many have pointed out that the relief Biden provided is significantly limited in scope.<\/p>\n As the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) pointed out in a report last month<\/a>, the president\u2019s action directly impacts about 6,500 U.S. citizens who\u2019ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses and 1,100 people described as \u201cresident\/legal alien offenders,\u201d in addition to those who\u2019ve violated the law in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n A demographic breakdown further shows that, among those convicted of at least one marijuana offense under the relevant federal code, 41.3 percent are white, 31.8 percent are Hispanic and 23.6 percent are Black.<\/p>\n Still, it remains notable that Biden is explicitly recognizing<\/a> marijuana reform as a racial equity issue, citing the pardons as the first example of how he\u2019s worked to improve the lives of the Black community in the new interview. He went on to list his administration\u2019s student loan relief action and appointment of the first female Black Supreme Court justice.<\/p>\n Biden has been routinely touting his cannabis clemency action, saying at one point that he\u2019s \u201cchanged the lives of thousands of people.\u201d But he\u2019s strongly indicated that he\u2019s unwilling to provide further relief<\/a> for those with marijuana sales convictions.<\/p>\n Activists with Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Last Prisoner Project (LPP) and DCMJ\u00a0staged protests outside of the White House last week<\/a>\u00a0to call attention to that issue, demanding that Biden release the estimated 2,800 people currently in federal prison for marijuana convictions that aren\u2019t limited to simple possession.<\/p>\n Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said last week that Biden\u2019s marijuana pardon proclamation should be \u201capplauded,\u201d<\/a> but the action is nonetheless critically limited because it exempts non-citizens who constitute the vast majority of federal possession cases.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the White House drug czar recently cheered Biden\u2019s \u201chistoric\u201d move<\/a>\u00a0to issue a mass marijuana pardon and direct an administrative review of the drug\u2019s scheduling status. And he is again highlighting that there are \u201cclearly\u201d medical benefits of cannabis\u2014which he says shouldn\u2019t be ignored because of separate concerns about youth use.<\/p>\n The Justice Department and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have committed to quickly carrying out the separate scheduling review<\/a>\u00a0the president directed, which could result in a recommendation to place cannabis in a lower schedule or remove it altogether, effectively legalizing the plant under federal law.<\/p>\n HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has said\u00a0officials will \u201cwork as quickly as we can\u201d to complete the analysis<\/a>\u00a0of cannabis scheduling per the president\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n The Department of Justice, 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 a department spokesperson said.<\/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 Vice President Kamala Harris said last month 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 A series of polls have shown that Americans\u00a0strongly support the president\u2019s pardon action<\/a>, and they also don\u2019t think that marijuana should be federally classified as a Schedule I drug.<\/p>\n Congressman Predicts Colorado Psychedelics Legalization Initiative Will Pass Next Week, And The Trend Will \u2018Continue\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Biden Says His Marijuana Pardons Have Improved Black Americans\u2019 Lives, But He Overstates Real-Life Impact<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden says that issuing mass pardons for federal marijuana possession offenses is one of the top things he\u2019s done to improve the lives of Black Americans since taking office. However, he appears to be to overstating the practical impact of his action. In a radio interview on TheContinue 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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57790"}],"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=57790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57791,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57790\/revisions\/57791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden Says His Marijuana Pardons Have Improved Black Americans\u2019 Lives, But He Overstates Real-Life Impact<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"