United States | President Biden cleared the criminal records of thousands convicted of marijuana possession

Washington

of the United States president Joe Biden on Thursday acquitted all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal laws. Among other things, they reported on the matter The Washington Post and The New York Times.

The criminal record cleanup affects about 6,500 people convicted under federal laws between 1992 and 2021, and thousands more in the Washington metropolitan area.

However, many more people have been convicted of marijuana possession across the United States under various state laws. Biden urged state governors to follow his example.

Biden’s decision won’t free people from prison, because news channel CNN nationwide, there is no one in prison convicted solely of possession of marijuana under federal law.

According to the news agency Reuters, Biden updated that the entry of a past conviction for possession of marijuana could have prevented him from getting an apartment, a job or a place to study.

Biden’s decision was interpreted as a step towards the decriminalization of marijuana, or cannabis.

“Sending people to prison for possession of marijuana has messed up too many lives – something that is legal in many states,” Biden wrote on Twitter.

According to Biden, it “doesn’t make sense” that marijuana is equated in legislation with harder class drugs such as heroin. For example, the highly addictive fentanyl and methamphetamine are in the lower category.

However, Biden did not say he wanted full decriminalization of marijuana. According to him, “restrictions on smuggling, marketing and selling to minors should remain in force”, reported AFP news agency.

By his decision Biden fulfilled the promise he made during the 2020 presidential election, with only a month left until the US congressional elections.

Leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus Chuck SchumerBiden’s party mate, interpreted the president’s decision as an acknowledgment that the so-called war on drugs has been “a war against people and above all against people of color”.

Biden also acknowledged in his speech that convictions for possession of marijuana have disproportionately targeted non-whites.