President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and a top Justice Department official all marked \u201cSecond Chance Month\u201d on Friday by separately touting the administration\u2019s mass marijuana pardons\u2014the latest acknowledgement from the White House that cannabis reform is a focus heading into the November election.<\/p>\n
Amid heightened expectations about a possible federal marijuana scheduling action following the president\u2019s 2022 directive, the president and vice president are again highlighting the administration\u2019s moves to offer cannabis clemency.<\/p>\n
This latest round of comments and social media posts comes in the middle of a month that the administration has used two years in a row to promote its broader criminal justice reform efforts. Biden previously mentioned his cannabis pardons and scheduling directive in the proclamation<\/a> that designated April as \u201cSecond Chance Month.\u201d<\/p>\n The president said during a National Action Network Convention speech on Friday that he\u2019s \u201ckeeping my promise that no one should be in federal prison for merely possessing marijuana,\u201d while fulfilling other criminal justice reform commitments.<\/p>\n Biden has increasingly touted the clemency action in recent months, including historically during his State of the Union address last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harris, for her part, shared a video clip on social media from her White House roundtable with marijuana pardon recipients, where she urged the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to finish its review into rescheduling cannabis \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d<\/a> and, behind closed doors, said \u201cwe need to legalize marijuana.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNobody should go to jail for smoking weed,\u201d Harris said. \u201cDuring Second Chance Month, I am uplifting the inspiring stories of pardon recipients\u2026 Their journeys are proof of the importance of pardons and second chances.\u201d<\/p>\n Nobody should go to jail for smoking weed. During Second Chance Month, I am uplifting the inspiring stories of pardon recipients like Michelle, Chris, and Dexter. Their journeys are proof of the importance of pardons and second chances. pic.twitter.com\/6fIuFgPT16<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 12, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Also on Friday, the Justice Department hosted an event<\/a> commemorating Second Chance Month that included a handful of mentions of Biden\u2019s marijuana pardon proclamations.<\/p>\n \u201cIn December, the president issued his second categorical pardon for certain marijuana offenses by expanding it to people who use marijuana or violated certain federal regulations,\u201d Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told the crowd, adding that \u201cthis is part of the larger effort for second chances and effort being led really by all of you\u2014past and present colleagues here at the department devoted to this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer also noted at the event that Biden has \u201cpardoned thousands of people convicted of possessing marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEach one of the president\u2019s commutation grants has transformed the life of a deserving recipient,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A DEA official recently said\u00a0it sometimes takes up to six months for\u00a0DEA to complete its analysis of health officials\u2019 scheduling recommendations<\/a>\u2014which is just about how long it has now been since the agency began its current cannabis assessment.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last month, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra defended his agency\u2019s rescheduling recommendation during a Senate committee hearing and also told cannabis lobbyist Don Murphy that he should pay DEA a visit and \u201cknock on their door\u201d for answers about the timing<\/a>\u00a0of their decision.<\/p>\n Certain DEA officials are\u00a0reportedly resisting the Biden administration\u2019s rescheduling push<\/a>, disputing the HHS findings on marijuana\u2019s safety profile and medical potential, according to unnamed sources who spoke with The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n The Biden administration was also recently\u00a0pressed to reschedule marijuana by two coalitions representing military veterans and law enforcement<\/a>\u2014including a group that counts DEA\u2019s Milgram among its members.<\/p>\n Based on a recent poll, President Joe Biden\u2019s cannabis moves stand to benefit him in the election. The survey found\u00a0the president\u2019s favorability spiked after people were made aware of the possibility<\/a>\u00a0that marijuana could be rescheduled under the Biden-initiated review.<\/p>\n Justice Department Is Investigating Marijuana-Related Businesses Over COVID Relief Loans, Industry Sources Say<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Biden, Harris And Top DOJ Official Promote Marijuana Pardons While Commemorating \u2018Second Chance Month\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and a top Justice Department official all marked \u201cSecond Chance Month\u201d on Friday by separately touting the administration\u2019s mass marijuana pardons\u2014the latest acknowledgement from the White House that cannabis reform is a focus heading into the November election. Amid heightened expectations about aContinue 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\/74126"}],"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=74126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74127,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74126\/revisions\/74127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden, Harris And Top DOJ Official Promote Marijuana Pardons While Commemorating \u2018Second Chance Month\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"