Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Friday, June 2
    • Home
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • FTC Statement
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
    Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn
    Cannabis illumination
    Green 85
    • Home
    • Cannabis Media

      Cannabis Drain to Waste my set up. HydroLocks smart pots D2w reservoir

      June 2, 2023

      RAW VIDEO: Investigator, National Microbiology Lab guard charged in organized crime drug bust

      June 1, 2023

      The Future of Colombian Cannabis (& Ayahuasca)

      May 31, 2023

      Making Supersoil For Cannabis in Canada (Full)

      May 30, 2023

      Episode 8: Turkey Bag Tom / Toasted Cannabis Co

      May 29, 2023
    • Cannabis News

      NH governor offers path to legalize cannabis day after Senate rejects bill

      June 2, 2023

      Product Earth 2022 | UK's no.1 hemp, CBD & legal cannabis experience | Puff Puff Palace

      June 1, 2023

      Cannabis Legalization News – Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act

      May 31, 2023

      N.J. cannabis news reporter is here to answer your questions.

      May 30, 2023

      UK Police discover 1st cannabis farm in London's financial district | Really News

      May 29, 2023
    • Cannabis Products

      Natural Homemade Weed Killer Recipe Tested by Lawn Care Pro

      June 2, 2023

      UK SPAC Set to List First Medicinal Cannabis Company in UK

      June 1, 2023

      Should I take CBD oil for my anxiety? BBC Stories

      May 31, 2023

      The Business of Cannabis in Canada Moderated byAlex Revich ICBC Berlin 2018

      May 30, 2023

      How the Legalise Cannabis Australia Party almost defeated Pauline Hanson | SpinCheck

      May 29, 2023
    • Shop
    Cannabis illumination
    You are at:Home»Blog»President Biden to pardon federal marijuana prisoners and start rescheduling process

    President Biden to pardon federal marijuana prisoners and start rescheduling process

    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    Green 85


    In an announcement that took the world by surprise, President Biden this afternoon declared that he would pardon all federal prisoners who are currently locked up for simple marijuana possession offenses.

    To quote Biden on a previous occasion: This is a big fucking deal.

    “There are thousands of people who were previously convicted of simple possession who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result,” Biden wrote. “My pardon will remove this burden.”

    Biden also announced that he has directed US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to start the process of rescheduling marijuana under federal law.

    “We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin—and more serious than fentanyl,” Biden wrote. “It makes no sense.”

    As I’ve said before, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.

    Today, I’m taking steps to end our failed approach. Allow me to lay them out.

    — President Biden (@POTUS) October 6, 2022

    Biden’s announcement marks one of the most sweeping actions ever taken by a president regarding cannabis.

    The move does not, of course, immediately legalize marijuana. Biden’s move only starts a process that could result in the reclassification or removal of cannabis from the federal drug schedule.

    Third: We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin – and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense. I’m asking @SecBecerra and the Attorney General to initiate the process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

    — President Biden (@POTUS) October 6, 2022

    Ninety minutes after making the announcement, the White House tweeted out this photo of Biden signing the executive order pardoning the prisoners.

    Today, President Biden pardoned all prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple marijuana possession.@POTUS also called on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses. pic.twitter.com/PGhVwuruKJ

    — The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 6, 2022

    How big a deal is this, really?

    It’s a really big fucking deal.

    Joe Biden just did what Bernie Sanders proposed back in 2020.

    Though it doesn’t legalize weed, today’s announcement is shocking in its scope.

    To get a proper sense, consider that Leafly’s former news editor, Ben Adlin, wrote an article a little more than two years ago headlined Bernie Sanders says he’d legalize cannabis by executive order. Can he do that?

    This afternoon, Joe Biden did what Bernie Sanders proposed back in 2020.

    Finally, finally, finally

    For the past two years the cannabis world has been waiting on President Biden to do something, anything, to push progress forward. Just three months ago a group of five Democratic (and one Independent) senators sent a letter to Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and HHS Secretary Becerra, demanding that they take action—finally, and posthaste—on cannabis reform.

    Publicly, the White House responded with nothing but crickets.

    Internally, however, it now seems the administration did actually have a game plan. The Biden team’s timing, one month before the midterm elections, is likely to energize the Democratic base—and could impress quite a few independents and Republicans, too. Although Democrats tend to favor full legalization to a greater extent than Republicans, cannabis reform has many advocates within the GOP.

    Leafly’s Max Savage Levenson captured the mood among many:

    During the 2020 campaign, Biden pledged to do the bare minimum in terms of cannabis reform. Candidate Biden wanted to “decriminalize” cannabis, which would leave us with a nation of legal consumers and criminalized growers and sellers.

    Related

    As Biden waffles on weed reform, Dems press him to do, like, any-f’ing-thing

    How marijuana could be legalized federally

    Leafly’s Ben Adlin laid out the process of federal legalization back in 2020. “There are two general paths to legalizing cannabis under federal law,” he wrote. “Either Congress can pass a bill and the president can sign it into law, or the executive branch can deschedule cannabis administratively.”

    The first path, via Congress, is by far the simpler method. Federal lawmakers pass a bill that says, essentially: “All that stuff we said about cannabis being illegal? That’s gone. Here’s what we’ll do instead.”

    Biden’s administrative path

    What President Biden has just done is launch a process to legalize cannabis under US law. It will not usher in legalization immediately—and may not legalize marijuana at all.

    Perhaps the best discussion of legalization via the administrative route was written by John Hudak and Grace Wallack of the Brookings Institution, in their 2015 paper, How to reschedule marijuana, and why it’s unlikely anytime soon.

    As Hudak and Wallack noted, legalizing cannabis federally through the administrative path would require rescheduling (or descheduling) cannabis and THC under the federal Controlled Substances Act. What does that look like?

    Here’s the full Brookings answer to whether a president could legalize through executive order:

    In a nutshell, administrative rescheduling begins when an actor—the Secretary of Health and Human Services or an outside interested party—files a petition with the Attorney General or he initiates the process himself. The Attorney General forwards the request to the HHS Secretary asking for a scientific and medical evaluation and recommendation, as specified by 23 USC 811(b-c). HHS, via the Food and Drug Administration conducts an assessment and returns a recommendation to the Attorney General “in a timely manner.” The Attorney General, often through the Drug Enforcement Administration, conducts its own concurrent and independent review of the evidence in order to determine whether a drug should be scheduled, rescheduled, or removed from control entirely—depending on the initial request in the petition.

    If the Attorney General finds sufficient evidence that a change in scheduling is warranted he then initiates the first stages of a standard rulemaking process, consistent with the Administrative Procedures Act. During rulemaking and consistent with Executive Order 12866, if the White House—through the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of information and Regulatory Affairs—determines the rule to be “significant,” it will conduct a regulatory review of the proposed rule—a very likely outcome given the criteria in the EO.

    What this means is that federal legalization under Biden’s new order is neither immediate nor guaranteed. There’s a long, bureaucratic process ahead of us.

    Leafly will continue to update this story throughout the day.

    Bruce Barcott and Calvin Stovall's Bio Image

    Bruce Barcott and Calvin Stovall

    Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott oversees news, investigations, and feature projects. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America.

    Calvin Stovall is Leafly’s East Coast Editor. He writes and produces media in Atlanta, GA and runs day-to-day operations for The Artistic Unified Exchange, a nonprofit that protects intellectual property on behalf of independent artists and underserved communities.

    View Bruce Barcott and Calvin Stovall’s articles

    By submitting this form, you will be subscribed to news and promotional emails from Leafly and you agree to Leafly’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe from Leafly email messages anytime.



    Green 85
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleWiz Khalifa – Still Wiz [Official Music Video]
    Next Article Seedsman Seeds order unboxing, Dec 6th 2019 (UK Cannabis Seed bank)

    Related Posts

    June 2023 Leafly HighLight: Watermelon Zkittlez strain

    June 1, 2023

    Grape Stank strain wins two ways at Oregon Leaf Bowl

    May 31, 2023

    Minnesota legalized weed: Here’s what happens next

    May 30, 2023
    Green 85
    Recent Posts
    • NH governor offers path to legalize cannabis day after Senate rejects bill
    • Cannabis Drain to Waste my set up. HydroLocks smart pots D2w reservoir
    • Natural Homemade Weed Killer Recipe Tested by Lawn Care Pro
    • June 2023 Leafly HighLight: Watermelon Zkittlez strain
    • Product Earth 2022 | UK's no.1 hemp, CBD & legal cannabis experience | Puff Puff Palace
    Green 85
    Don't Miss

    NH governor offers path to legalize cannabis day after Senate rejects bill

    Cannabis Drain to Waste my set up. HydroLocks smart pots D2w reservoir

    Natural Homemade Weed Killer Recipe Tested by Lawn Care Pro

    June 2023 Leafly HighLight: Watermelon Zkittlez strain

    Popular Posts

    NH governor offers path to legalize cannabis day after Senate rejects bill

    June 2, 2023

    Cannabis Drain to Waste my set up. HydroLocks smart pots D2w reservoir

    June 2, 2023

    Natural Homemade Weed Killer Recipe Tested by Lawn Care Pro

    June 2, 2023
    Recent Posts
    • NH governor offers path to legalize cannabis day after Senate rejects bill
    • Cannabis Drain to Waste my set up. HydroLocks smart pots D2w reservoir
    • Natural Homemade Weed Killer Recipe Tested by Lawn Care Pro
    • June 2023 Leafly HighLight: Watermelon Zkittlez strain
    • Product Earth 2022 | UK's no.1 hemp, CBD & legal cannabis experience | Puff Puff Palace
    Latest Posts

    New York Marijuana Legalization Bill Signed By Governor Cuomo

    April 1, 2021

    As 4/20 Passes, The Inequalities In Cannabis Policy Are Still Evident

    April 21, 2021

    NFL Marijuana Testing Drastically Scaled Back Under New CBA

    April 30, 2021
    Copyright © 2023. FOR SALE: This Domain & Website is For Sale. Please Call 360 256-1117 or Email thewaymarketing88@gmail.com For All the Details.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.