The president of the United States, Joe Bidenannounced this Thursday that will forgive all those convicted of marijuana possession. He did so as part of a decriminalization project that seeks to reform drug laws, one month before the mid-term legislative elections.
“I am announcing a pardon for all previous federal offenses for mere possession of marijuana,” Biden said in a statement, questioning “a misleading approach” to the issue of drug use.
“As I said during my presidential campaign, no one should be in jail just for possession of marijuana. Sending these people to jail has upset too many lives and put them in jail for behavior that most states no longer prohibit,” Biden explained. .
He explained that “criminal records” also pose “unnecessary barriers to employment, housing or educational opportunities”. Furthermore, she stressed the racial issue: “While whites, blacks and browns use marijuana at similar rates, blacks and browns are arrested, prosecuted and locked up at disproportionate rates.”
“My action,” he said of pardoning prisoners for possession of marijuana, “will help alleviate the collateral consequences that come with those blockades.” According to CNNOfficial sources say there are no Americans in prison for the sole offense of simply possessing marijuana.
Senior US officials estimate there are about 6,500 people convicted of marijuana possession, with another 1,000 in the District of Columbia. However, most convictions occur at the state level. Therefore, as part of your “three-step announcement”, Biden urged the governors to extend leniency.
Biden’s reform of the drug law
Third, Biden asked the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General’s Office to initiate an administrative process to “rapidly review” the treatment of marijuana in federal law.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 places marijuana on Schedule I, which includes the substances considered most dangerous.
“It’s the same treatment as heroin and LSD, and it’s an even higher score than fentanyl and methamphetamine, the drugs leading the overdose epidemic,” Biden added. She also assured that she will maintain “important restrictions on traffic, marketing and sales to minors”.
“Too many lives have suffered from our wrong approach to marijuana. It’s time to correct those mistakes,” the statement concluded.
An election promise and a claim still in effect
Joe Biden’s announcement comes a month before the mid-term elections, which will renew all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 in the Senate. It is also the realization of a old campaign promise before the elections that made him president, in November 2020.
Some sectors believe that the measure taken by the president of the United States has the taste of just before the demands for legalization of marijuana. as a crop CNNa 2020 Gallup poll found that 68% of Americans were in favor of legalizing recreational drugs.
Biden’s approach instead points to decriminalization.
“Nobody should go to jail for using a drug. They should go to drug rehab,” he said earlier this year. In her opinion, the sentencing system “should be changed to one that focuses on safety” of the rehabilitation plans.
In any case, this Thursday’s announcement is the beginning of the fulfillment of his election promise, which took longer than necessary due to the rejection of a part of Congress.
DB
Source: Clarin
