Activists and supporters of President Joe Biden are getting tired of waiting for a campaign promise to expunge marijuana records to be fulfilled. They are even using the President’s own words from the campaign, which probably earned him votes from some, against him in a renewed effort to check this issue off the list. The message they are sending to the Biden administration is clear: “Keep your promise. Do the right thing and begin to wind down our nation’s longest war, the drug war.”
“No one should be in jail because of marijuana. As President, I will decriminalize cannabis use and automatically expunge prior convictions,” President Biden said on the 2020 campaign trail. Now, activists want him to act.
“Despite having explicitly pledged to do so, this action, which would be supported by a majority of all Americans regardless of political persuasion and bring immediate justice to thousands, there has been no progress from the Administration to advance on federal marijuana expungements,” a NORML petition states. “That is why we need you to join us in urging Biden to follow through and take action to pardon those thousands of individuals who are saddled with a criminal record for a federal marijuana-related offense.”
Calling it “primarily an issue of justice” and saying it “would be a pivotal first step” in offsetting the human toll of the war on drugs, the petition gets a little more harsh for the President.
“Mr. President, when you made these promises on the campaign trail, Americans took you at your word, your word as a Biden, that you would follow through. These same voters are now closely watching to see if you intend to honor your commitments. As they look forward to the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 Presidential race, it is the actions you take now that will shape their decisions,” it states.
So after one year in office, will President Biden keep his promise and expunge the records of the thousands of Americans with federal non-violent marijuana convictions? With sinking poll numbers on a variety of issues, perhaps he can’t risk angering another segment of his political base on the marijuana issue.
