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"President Joe Biden took steps to overhaul U.S. policy on marijuana [last] Thursday by pardoning thousands of people with federal offenses for simple marijuana possession and initiating a review of how the drug is classified… Nearly 40 U.S. states have legalized marijuana use in some form, but it remains completely illegal in some states and at the federal level. Reclassification would be a first step toward wider legalization.” Reuters
The left supports the pardons, and argues that marijuana should be decriminalized.
"‘Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and Whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.’ It has long been known that these arrests and convictions have tremendous and lasting costs. They can ‘negatively impact public housing and student financial aid eligibility, employment opportunities, child custody determinations and immigration status.’…
“While Biden’s move will not expunge people’s criminal records — nor will it result in the release of anyone currently imprisoned — a pardon ‘would remove ‘civil disabilities,’ which include restrictions on the right to vote, to hold office or to sit on a jury.’”
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
“[The first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics] succeeded in criminalizing marijuana in 1937 through a campaign of racial fearmongering, once declaring, ‘Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,’ and that it made ‘white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and others.’…
“President Richard Nixon, who empaneled a commission to look into marijuana and then ignored its findings when it recommended decriminalization, launched the War on Drugs in 1971—and this is according to his own domestic affairs adviser—to strike at white hippies and black folks… It’s no wonder the Internet applauded the president’s order by flooding social media with ‘Dank Brandon’ memes.”Kali Holloway, The Nation
"More than 70 percent of Americans favor expungement of the records of those with marijuana convictions, according to 2020 polling data compiled by YouGov.com. At a time when [Republican] candidates are attacking Democrats for supporting criminal justice reform, this is a reform that is supported by 81 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents, and 57 percent of Republicans. Those numbers roughly parallel the levels of support for legalization of marijuana.”
John Nichols, The Nation
Critics note that the pardons fall "well short of [Biden’s] campaign promise and leaves thousands of people languishing in federal prison for nonviolent marijuana offenses… As a matter of principle, it’s awfully hard to argue with a straight face that buying, selling, or possessing a pound or two of marijuana is somehow worse than buying, selling, or possessing a fifth of vodka…
“But even in the political atmosphere of 2022, Biden couldn’t bring himself to pardon nonviolent first-time offenders serving time in federal prison for, say, possessing a few pounds of weed ‘with intent to distribute.’ The idea of any Republican anywhere getting the tiniest bit of political juice out of getting to say that Biden might have released a few ‘drug dealers’ from federal prison was too terrifying for Biden to carry out his original promise.”
Ben Burgis, Jacobin
"The push for decriminalization should not be misinterpreted as signaling that marijuana is safe for everyone or that recreational use — especially among youths — ought to be normalized… There are real dangers associated with the substance…
“Perhaps the right balance to strike is to think of recreational marijuana as we do tobacco. Tobacco is legal, and people don’t go to jail for having cigarettes. But nicotine content is regulated, and tobacco sales to young people are banned. Treatment also exists for those who want to quit. Critically, just as there are concerted efforts to educate on the dangers of smoking, there should be national efforts to warn against recreational cannabis use. If not, the myth that marijuana is totally safe will keep getting perpetuated, and today’s generation of young people will pay the price.”
Leana Wen, Washington Post
The right is skeptical of the pardons, and emphasizes the harmful effects of marijuana.
The right is skeptical of the pardons, and emphasizes the harmful effects of marijuana.
“Even Mr. Biden had to concede that no one is in federal prison for simple marijuana possession. What he didn’t say is that even among those housed in state prisons—which hold about 90% of the country’s incarcerated population—a relatively small percentage is there on drug offenses, and almost all of those were convicted of trafficking, not for being caught with small amounts of drugs for personal use…
“The reality is that what drives incarceration rates is violent crimes, not drug crimes… The U.S. regularly tops the list of advanced countries with the largest prison population, but if we sent home every incarcerated drug offender tomorrow, we’d still top the list…
“Nor would releasing drug offenders do much of anything to address the racial imbalance among inmates, which results primarily from the fact that blacks are about 13% of the U.S. population yet are responsible for almost two-thirds of the nation’s violent crime. So long as this racial gap in violent offenses persists, so will the racial gap in incarceration rates.”
Jason L. Riley, Wall Street Journal
“Marijuana possession convictions are usually the result of plea bargaining down from more serious charges, whether drug trafficking or other felonies. In 2013, over 91 percent of federal marijuana possession convictions came from arrests made at the border. The median quantity of marijuana possessed by those border offenders was over 48 pounds. That load would make for one very big blunt… Away from the border, marijuana possession arrests (now a thing of the past) were usually made during the investigation of [a] more serious crime…
“The impetus for stricter drug enforcement has always come from black communities themselves, as research by Randall Kennedy, Michael Fortner, and James Forman has documented. During police-community meetings in high crime neighborhoods, I have routinely heard complaints about the smell of marijuana in hallways and about the youth trespassing in building lobbies smoking weed…
“If the police ignore those heartfelt requests for enforcement because Biden and the ACLU tell them that they would be racist to act on the complaints, the police would deny the law-abiding, hardworking inhabitants of crime-ridden areas the government protection that they deserve.”
Heather Mac Donald, American Mind
“A well-financed, decadeslong campaign has erroneously convinced Americans that marijuana is harmless, or possibly an all-purpose, natural cure… [But] a voluminous and growing body of evidence proves that marijuana—especially marijuana containing high levels of THC—causes a host of psychological, physical, mental, and emotional harms…
“Emergency room cases of cannabis-induced psychosis increased 54% within three years after California legalized marijuana in 2016… Researchers have found those who use high-potency marijuana every day are five times more likely to develop psychosis than those who never smoke pot. Eradicating marijuana use would reduce all cases of schizophrenia by 10%…
“A January 2022 meta-review of studies covering 43,000 people concluded that marijuana users have a ‘diminished ability to learn, retain, and retrieve verbal information.’ This deficit ‘may have repercussions for users’ occupational functioning, independent living, and ability to navigate through their daily life adequately,’ it said… New research shows marijuana’s mental impairment could last for weeks, if not longer. A review of 62,454 brain scans found that marijuana abuse added 2.8 years to the brain’s age and greatly reduced blood flow.”
Ben Johnson, Daily Signal
A libertarian's take
“Fifty years ago, when less than 20 percent of Americans thought pot should be legal, the Nixon-appointed Shafer Commission recommended that ‘possession of marihuana for personal use no longer be an offense.’ President Jimmy Carter endorsed decriminalization in 1977, when he told Congress that ‘penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.’…
“Half a century later, Biden has finally come around to that position. ‘Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives—for conduct that is legal in many states,’ he said on Twitter last week. The same thing is true of sending people to jail for growing or selling marijuana, of course, although that is a point Biden refuses to acknowledge. The moral logic of his distinction between simple possession and other marijuana offenses is hard to follow.”
Jacob Sullum, Reason
