President Joe Biden says his administration is \u201cmaking sure\u201d people are not incarcerated over marijuana possession, while arguing that prior cannabis convictions should be expunged.<\/p>\n
During a speech at the 115th NAACP National Convention on Tuesday, the president briefly touched on his marijuana policy position amid ongoing speculation about his fitness for office and ability to beat former President Donald Trump in the November election.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the way, we\u2019re making sure that no one goes to jail for the mere use of possession of marijuana,\u201d Biden said. \u201cTheir records should be expunged. It holds them back.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the president has issued mass pardons for thousands of people who\u2019ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses, and also directed an administrative review into marijuana that led the Justice Department to formally recommend rescheduling<\/a>, neither of those actions prevent the continued criminalization of people over marijuana.<\/p>\n Biden made a campaign pledge in 2020 to decriminalize cannabis, but that hasn\u2019t come to fruition in the first three and a half years of his term in office. Also, if the DOJ\u2019s proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), that would still not federally legalize it.<\/p>\n In any case, as Biden faces growing pressure to reevaluate whether he is capable of defeating Trump in the upcoming election, with calls from certain Democratic lawmakers to bow out so the party can pursue another potential nominee, his marijuana mention at the NAACP event shows once again that the campaign understands the potential value of promoting cannabis policy reform on the trail.<\/p>\n NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who introduced the president on Tuesday, also recently spoke with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) at a virtual event where they discussed the governor\u2019s own recent mass marijuana pardon<\/a>, which also earned praise from the White House.<\/p>\n The president, for his part, also recently touted his administration\u2019s work to address the \u201cfailed approach to marijuana\u201d<\/a> as part of a proclamation marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n The president has also\u00a0previously promoted his cannabis pardons and scheduling directive<\/a>\u00a0in proclamations marking \u201cSecond Chance Month.\u201d In 2022, he pointed to the pardons as\u00a0an example of how his administration is tackling racial justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, the White House\u00a0separately said Biden \u201ccommends and welcomes\u201d recent news<\/a>\u00a0that Maryland\u2019s governor has\u00a0issued over 175,000 pardons for marijuana and paraphernalia convictions<\/a>.<\/p>\n In May, meanwhile, Biden also\u00a0discussed his mass marijuana pardons at a rally in Philadelphia<\/a>, where he finally acknowledged that his clemency actions did not expunge records after he had repeatedly suggested they did.<\/p>\n While the president might have adjusted his rhetoric to reflect the realities of the clemency action, he hasn\u2019t indicated that he\u2019s willing to offer relief for offenses beyond simple possession. In fact, he\u2019s specifically said that growing or distributing cannabis is \u201ca different deal.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The White House drug czar, Rahul Gupta, has also discussed the rescheduling move multiple times over the past month, framing it as a \u201chistoric\u201d reform that could open the door to cannabis-based drug development. However, he\u2019s also inflated the impact of a Schedule III reclassification, at one point\u00a0suggesting it would address racial disparities in marijuana enforcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Biden-Harris campaign has also drawn a contrast between\u00a0the marijuana policy actions of their administration and that of Trump<\/a>, pointing out that DOJ under his administration rescinded federal cannabis enforcement guidance that generally laid out a policy of non-interference with legal marijuana states.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Trump also announced his pick for his vice presidential running mate at the Republican National Committee convention on Monday, naming Sen. JD Vance (R-OH). The senator has backed states\u2019 rights to enact their own cannabis laws<\/a>, but he\u2019s opposed legalization and voted against a bipartian marijuana banking bill in committee last year.<\/p>\n Senator Files \u2018DOOBIE Act\u2019 To Prevent Agencies From Using Past Marijuana Use To Deny Employment And Security Clearances<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Biden Tells NAACP He Is \u2018Making Sure\u2019 People Aren\u2019t Jailed For Marijuana Possession<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden says his administration is \u201cmaking sure\u201d people are not incarcerated over marijuana possession, while arguing that prior cannabis convictions should be expunged. During a speech at the 115th NAACP National Convention on Tuesday, the president briefly touched on his marijuana policy position amid ongoing speculation about hisContinue 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\/76891"}],"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=76891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76892,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76891\/revisions\/76892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Biden Tells NAACP He Is \u2018Making Sure\u2019 People Aren\u2019t Jailed For Marijuana Possession<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"