President Joe Biden’s announcement Thursday that he would pardon federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana could help more than 6,500 people get jobs or other opportunities, but it won’t do much for most. people incarcerated for marijuana.
Biden has also pushed for more governors to follow suit for state offenses, where many marijuana charges are filed.
“Just as no one should be in federal prison solely for possession of marijuana, no one should be in local jail or state prison for that reason either,” Biden said.
Biden’s decision recognizes the problem of mass marijuana incarceration, said Morgan Fox, policy director of the nonprofit National Marijuana Law Reform Organization.
“It should be a measure of hope,” he said.
Last year, about 1,000 people were charged with violating federal marijuana laws, according to a United States Sentencing Commission report cited by NORML. Nearly 7,000 people were charged by the federal government for these offenses in 2012.
Across the country, around 500,000 people were arrested on cannabis-related offenses in 2019. Most of those charges were for state offenses, the FBI said.
Marijuana accounted for more than one in three arrests for possession that same year, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts Public Safety Performance Project. In 2009, this number was more than 1 in 2.
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Nearly 70% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, according to in Gallup. More than 80% of Democrats support legalizing the substance, while Republicans were nearly evenly split on the issue.
Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the president’s plan. A spokesman for Republican Governor Greg Abbott said, “The Governor of Texas can only pardon people who have gone through the Texas Board of Pardons and Pardons system with a pardon recommendation.”
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Natalie Papillion, director of strategic initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project, praised Biden for initially focusing on redressing the harms of the war on drugs as opposed to other aspects of legalizing marijuana, but said said there was work to ensure more people get justice.
“Before we talk about how much money we can really make, services, etc., we have to talk about how we can right the wrongs of those who have been most affected, the people who have been arrested and put in jail,” Papillion said.
She urged the president to pardon all non-violent marijuana offenses, not just simple possession.
During the campaign trail, Biden said marijuana should be decriminalized and records expunged. Earlier this year, Biden granted clemency to nine people convicted of federal marijuana offenses.
Maritza Perez, director of the Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of Federal Affairs, said there should be more comprehensive relief for people, including conviction, disbarment and removal of immigration consequences.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but it certainly doesn’t do enough to really help undo the wrongdoings of the war on drugs,” she said.
Perez said she hopes Congress will act on several bills dealing with the legalization of marijuana.
Several measures are envisaged. The Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement Act, or HOPE, aims to help states bear the financial cost of reporting cannabis offenses.
The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act and the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act both seek to find a process to expunge certain marijuana offenses. They also decriminalize the substance.
Tiffany Cusaac-Smith covers race and history for USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter @T_Cusaac.