Vice President Kamala Harris again promoted the administration\u2019s marijuana pardons at a White House event on Thursday, reiterating that she doesn\u2019t believe \u201cpeople should have to go to jail for smoking weed.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a roundtable event alongside Kim Kardashian and four people who received presidential pardons for drug-related convictions on Wednesday<\/a>, Harris said the administration remains committed to exercising its clemency authority, which has included President Joe Biden\u2019s pardon proclamations for federal cannabis offenses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have issued\u2014as an administration with President Biden\u2019s leadership\u2014more pardons and commutations than any recent administration at this point in their term,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, on marijuana: We have pardoned all people for federal convictions for simple marijuana possession.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany of you have heard me say, I just don\u2019t think people should have to go to jail for smoking weed. And these pardons have been issued as an extension of that approach,\u201d the vice president said.<\/p>\n The event, which coincides with Second Chance Month, comes a month after Harris hosted marijuana pardon recipients at the White House for a separate roundtable discussion focused on their experiences receiving clemency and obtaining Justice Department certifications formally documenting the relief.<\/p>\n At that event, Harris pressed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule cannabis \u201cas quickly as possible\u201d<\/a> in accordance with the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She also late said during a closed-door portion of the roundtable that \u201cwe need to legalize marijuana.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Also on Thursday, the White House separately touted Biden\u2019s cannabis actions in a fact sheet about Second Chance Month, saying the administration is \u201caddressing a failed approach to marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cSending people to prison for marijuana possession has upended too many lives for conduct that is now legal in many states,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing his October 2022 pardon of prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple possession of marijuana, in December 2023, the President issued a Proclamation that pardoned additional offenses of simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and D.C. law, as well certain violations under the Code of Federal Regulations involving simple marijuana,\u201d the fact sheet says<\/a>. \u201cThese full, categorical pardons lift barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people.\u201d<\/p>\n As the election approaches, it\u2019s become clear that the Biden-Harris administration understands the popularity of cannabis reform and is willing to lean into the issue. On the cannabis holiday 4\/20 last Saturday, for example, both Biden and Harris promoted marijuana policy reform in social media posts at exactly 4:20pm ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advocates have been encouraged to see the administration continue to grant and promote clemency for people criminalized over drugs, but the latest round highlighted by Harris on Thursday also came as a reminder that thousands of people remain incarcerated over federal marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n Last month, 36 members of Congress implored Biden to\u00a0grant clemency to all Americans currently in federal prison over non-violent cannabis convictions<\/a>\u00a0by commuting their sentences, pointing out that the pardons he\u2019s issued to date for simple possession cases did not release a single person from incarceration.<\/p>\n Biden has strongly indicated that he\u2019s uninterested in expanding his marijuana clemency efforts beyond people who\u2019ve faced convictions for use or simple possession, however. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin last month, for example, he said that\u00a0\u201cif you\u2019re out selling it, if you\u2019re out growing, it\u2019s a different deal.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the president also discussed the marijuana actions in a historic context last month, during his State of the Union address<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Biden, Harris and a top Justice Department official all marked \u201cSecond Chance Month\u201d by separately touting the administration\u2019s mass marijuana pardons<\/a>\u2014another acknowledgement from the White House that cannabis reform is a focus heading into the November election.<\/p>\n Judge Schedules Oral Arguments In Marijuana Companies\u2019 Lawsuit Challenging Federal Prohibition<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post VP Kamala Harris Highlights Marijuana Pardons At Another White House Event With Presidential Clemency Recipients<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Vice President Kamala Harris again promoted the administration\u2019s marijuana pardons at a White House event on Thursday, reiterating that she doesn\u2019t believe \u201cpeople should have to go to jail for smoking weed.\u201d At a roundtable event alongside Kim Kardashian and four people who received presidential pardons for drug-related convictions onContinue 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\/74632"}],"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=74632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74633,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74632\/revisions\/74633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: VP Kamala Harris Highlights Marijuana Pardons At Another White House Event With Presidential Clemency Recipients<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"