The presidential pardon sees thousands of people see marijuana possession disappear from their criminal records, writes ‘The New York Times’. “There are thousands of people who have been convicted of simple possession in the past and have been denied employment, housing or educational opportunities as a result. My grace will remove this burden,” Biden said on Twitter.
Biden also wants to remove cannabis from the list of drugs that, according to the US federal government, “have a high risk of abuse and can cause serious psychological and/or physical dependence”. “We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin — and more seriously than fentanyl. It doesn’t make sense,” writes the president. Fentanyl is a painkiller 100 times more potent than morphine. It killed more than 70,000 Americans last year.
Biden is calling on United States governors to do the same for people convicted by local courts. “Jailing people for marijuana possession has destroyed too many lives — for something that is legal in many US states. Not to mention the obvious racial differences in prosecution and sentencing. Today we begin to rectify these wrongs.”