President Biden fulfilled one of his campaign promises last week by pardoning anyone convicted of possession of marijuana under federal law. Now most marijuana possession charges are under state law, so it was only 6,500 people pardoned. But still, in a country where recreational weed is legal in 19 states and in Washington D.C, it was a long overdue step.
It is testament to how far America has come on the issue of drugs, that this pardon was celebrated by both sides of politics. Even Americans for Prosperity, the conservative policy group funded by the Koch brothers, released a statement praising the Biden Administration (not a sentence we expected to write when Biden was elected a couple of years ago).
This article takes a look at President Biden’s evolution on the issue of weed legalisation. And it has been an evolution. As Senator, he was a big supporter of the America’s war on drugs and of the Clinton administration’s tough on crime stance in the 1990’s. And now he is the President that is taking the first (albiet small) steps towards the federal legalisation of marijuana.
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