Joe Biden Commutes the Sentences of 11 Nonviolent Drug Offenders, Pardons Some Marijuana Offenses
"Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities," Biden said
President Joe Biden on Friday announced the pardons of 11 nonviolent convicted drug offenders, also issuing a proclamation that would pardon those convicted of certain marijuana offenses.
"As I have said before, criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities," Biden, 81, said in the proclamation issued Friday.
Biden added that, through the proclamation, "individuals who may continue to experience the unnecessary collateral consequences of a conviction for simple possession of marijuana, attempted simple possession of marijuana, or use of marijuana," will be pardoned.
The proclamation builds on last year's historic pardon for federal offenders of simple marijuana possession and will mean that thousands of those who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia will now be eligible for pardons.
Currently, 25 states in the U.S. have fully legalized the use of marijuana, while 14 have legalized the its medical usage.
Related: President Biden Announces Federal Pardons for Simple Marijuana Possession Offenders
The 11 other people formally granted clemency on Friday had convictions ranging from conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The White House described the sentences for those nonviolent drug offenses as “disproportionately long."
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The ability to set aside federal criminal convictions — even to try and prevent future prosecutions for a federal crime for which someone has not yet been charged — is one of the signature authorities of a president and it has few restrictions. (It does not, however, affect state crimes.)
During his 2019 presidential campaign, Biden had expressed that "nobody should be in jail for smoking marijuana," and the White House has said the executive clemencies are meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.
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