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About a month before the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden announced one of the most sweeping pardons in modern American history: The incumbent Democrat took executive action to pardon thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law.
It was not, however, the end of the White House’s efforts. The Associated Press reported:
President Joe Biden is making thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia eligible for pardons, the White House said Friday, in his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.
“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” the president said in a written statement. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”
Biden also reiterated a message to governors. “Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” the incumbent’s statement added. “That’s why I continue to urge governors to do the same with regard to state offenses and applaud those who have since taken action.”
This is, to be sure, a significant policy development and a progressive success story. But as a political matter, one of the most amazing things about the president’s latest move is how uncontroversial it is.
Revisiting our earlier coverage, on a day-to-day level, Republican criticisms of Biden’s agenda are effectively reflexive: If the Democratic White House wants x, then GOP leaders are eager to tell voters that x represents a socialistic assault on everything that is good and true about America.
With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine Republicans launching apoplectic broadsides in response to Biden’s pardons related to marijuana crimes. The public would inevitably hear tired clichés about Democrats being “soft on crime” and failing to appreciate the seriousness of “gateway drugs.”
But for the most part, leading GOP voices simply don’t seem to care. The White House seems to realize that Biden can do the right thing on the issue without paying a political price.
It’s extraordinary to see how much the landscape has changed in recent years. A decade ago, the total number of states allowing recreational marijuana use was zero, and at the national level, elected officials wanted nothing to do with reform proposals.
Now, 24 states have legalized cannabis for adult use, and 37 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana.
What’s more, on Capitol Hill, a major Democratic reform package cleared the House last year — even a handful of GOP members supported it — and while the measure couldn’t overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate, proponents of the legislation faced no pushback in the 2022 cycle.
For decades, the United States’ “war on drugs” only moved in one punitive direction. As the latest developments help prove, it’s a new day.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.