On the campaign trail, Biden touted his support for decriminalizing cannabis and moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Schumer have sweeping approaches to cannabis reform, while Biden’s strategy, Hudak says, is ”public policy with a scalpel rather than hatchet.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer himself is drafting a new legalization bill and has previously promised that if Democrats led the chamber, legalization would be a priority. Congress is trending that way too: The House passed a bill to legalize marijuana in December, and the Senate plans to soon follow suit.
#Join together weed full
Now, a third of Americans live in a state where marijuana is legal and a majority support full legalization, including 83 percent of Democrats. “We have to join together to ensure that drug dealers are punished swiftly, surely and severely … we have to hold every drug user accountable,” Biden said at the time. Bush’s anti-drug plan for not going far enough. He also later said he did not think people should be locked up for marijuana and wanted to see marijuana records expunged - a departure from the senator who criticized Republican President George H.W. But Biden planted himself, suggested that marijuana was a gateway drug, generating criticism that led him to walk back that statement. Criminal justice reform advocates blame the harsh drug laws championed by Biden and other lawmakers in the 1990s for locking people up on overly punitive marijuana offenses. On the debate stage, Biden’s primary opponents took him to task for his reluctance to embrace marijuana legalization. I think it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy.” and I did inhale,” she told the hosts of The Breakfast Club about smoking in college. And two years ago, angling for the White House herself, Harris, then a senator from California, joked about smoking pot. Nearly all of Biden’s competitors in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary issued full-throated endorsements of federal marijuana legalization. “The bottom line is this: of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy,” she added. White House press secretary Jen Psaki downplayed the Daily Beast report in a pair of tweets Friday, while saying the security screenings wouldn’t “automatically” disqualify a job candidate who had used marijuana. The White House’s decision to dismiss or penalize employees for marijuana demonstrates the gap between the Biden administration and the majority of his party, who increasingly see decriminalization or outright legalization as a major criminal justice reform issue. “His approach is very piecemeal,” said John Hudak, an expert on cannabis policy and executive powers at the Brookings Institution. Instead of endorsing full legalization, Biden’s campaign proposed a patchwork of changes to federal drug law that would legalize, decriminalize and continue to prohibit cannabis in a variety of ways that experts say will be difficult to implement. “What this shows is the impact of those laws.” In an interview, she added that the White House’s recent actions don’t surprise her. She’s requesting a meeting with the administration to discuss cannabis policy, including the latest uproar about personnel. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus who worked with the Biden campaign on the Democratic party platform last summer. “They did not support descheduling and legalization,” said Rep. It was a step backwards from 2016, when the party made history by endorsing a “pathway” to legalization. As recently as last year, Biden’s staff rejected marijuana legalization as part of the Democratic Party policy platform.
But Biden - who, as a senator, shepherded the 1994 crime bill that disproportionately hit communities of color and set mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession - has never truly warmed to the idea. Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have shifted their positions on cannabis legalization in recent years. “It’s not, probably, surprising.”īlumenauer is already putting together a letter with other lawmakers “seeking clarification” from the Biden administration on the dismissals. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Capitol Hill’s unofficial weed czar, said in an interview. “It is another very vivid example of the clash between outmoded past policies, and where America is, and where America is going,” Rep.
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