President Biden’s Historic Call on Governors to Follow Suit on Marijuana Actions: Explained
On Oct 6, President Biden made history with an unprecedented announcement about how his administration will be addressing marijuana policy moving forward. His announcement had three parts: 1) pardoning citizens with federal marijuana possession convictions; 2) calling on governors to take similar action at the state level; and 3) calling on the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to review marijuana’s federal Schedule 1 status.
It was the first time a sitting president has ever acknowledged the failure of cannabis prohibition, so it is hugely significant in that respect. His actions will have varying degrees of impact on individual lives and drug policy reform in general--but it is his second action that we believe will have the most impact on the lives of our constituents and their families.
Since President Biden does not have the authority to pardon anyone with state convictions, he could have just issued his federal pardons and called it a day. Instead, he called on the 50 people who have authority over the vast majority of cannabis criminal records in the country, and he urged them to act.
This is important. While pardon powers vary in state statutes (more on that later), the intent of his message was clear: The war on cannabis failed. It was wrong. And governments must act to begin to redress those wrongs.
This sets a precedent for states to meet--and pass. And that’s where we come in.
Many governors across the country have reacted publicly to the President’s move already. A few don’t support it, usually because they don’t support cannabis legalization as a concept. But many have applauded the announcement, and said their offices are looking into what they can do. Some of those have remarked that their states are farther along than the federal government on cannabis reform. While that is objectively true in many places, we are imploring those supportive governors to think more boldly. To see President Biden’s move as the floor, not the ceiling. Cannabis prohibition has left
millions
of people in its wake--providing (limited) relief for those with only simple possession convictions leaves far too many people behind.
LPP has the unique expertise to advise administrations in assessing their statutory authority to take similar action, and to build tailored pardon initiatives that provide accessible relief. We can also counsel governors on additional strategies to leverage their bully pulpit as the President did: in particular, to encourage state legislative action that shares the President’s intent of providing retroactive relief for those criminalized for cannabis. Governors can use their democratically-won authority to initiate the identification of pathways to provide
record clearance for individuals suffering the collateral consequences associated with having a cannabis record, as well as to provide
sentence reviews for individuals still incarcerated for cannabis offenses.
LPP is offering support to administrations interested in heeding the President’s call. As soon as the announcement was made, we began outreach to governor’s offices around the country, and will be launching a broader campaign in the coming weeks. We must harness the momentum of this pivotal moment in our country’s shameful history of prohibition, and push harder than ever before toward bold and necessary change. Stay tuned!
