As President Joe Biden announces a new round of pardons and commutations—including several for people with marijuana and other drug convictions—a new poll shows a majority of Americans are in favor of clemency for everyone who’s been federally criminalized over cannabis, as well as broader drug possession.
On Thursday, the White House released a clemency list—with over 1,500 people either getting their sentences reduced through commutations or receiving presidential pardons for their offenses. A majority of pardon recipients were convicted for non-violent drug offenses.
While advocates are encouraged by the expanded clemency, they’ve argued that the pardons and commutations still fall short of Biden’s promise to release those currently incarcerated over cannabis. His prior mass marijuana pardons primarily affected those who’ve committed simple federal possession offenses, none of whom were actively incarcerated.
“I will take more steps in the weeks ahead,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday. “My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances.”
Five of the pardon recipients are people who the advocacy group Last Prisoner Project (LPP) has worked on behalf of, the organization said in a press release.
“We are heartened to see the President using his clemency power more robustly and are eager to see more action before he leaves office,” LPP Executive Director Sarah Gersten said. “It’s clear from the White House’s statement that the administration sees nonviolent drug offenders, and particularly those impacted by unjust cannabis offenses, as a critical category of clemency recipients deserving relief.”
An estimated 1,500 people are still incarcerated over federal cannabis offenses. And there were hopes that the relief Biden granted on Thursday, primarily for people who were placed on home confinement amid the coronavirus pandemic, would be more expansive.
“I am happy for the 1,500 people on home confinement who were granted commutations so they no longer have to live in fear of going back to prison for a minor rule violation. They can now move on with their lives,” Weldon Angelos—who had a cannabis crime pardoned by then-President Trump in 2020 and has continued to advocate for similar relief for others—told Marijuana Moment on Thursday.
“However, I am deeply disappointed Biden did not release a single person incarcerated for marijuana. There are only roughly 1,500 people locked up in the federal system for marijuana—the same number of people he granted commutations to today,” he said. “With only just over a month left in office, President Biden still has time to honor his campaign pledge. I hope he does not leave this promise unfulfilled.”
Maritza Perez Medina, director of federal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), said in a statement that the president’s latest clemency actions “acknowledge what Americans have long known: that our country’s practice of doling out lengthy prison sentences to people for drug offenses has put lives at risk, broken families apart, and wasted billions of dollars.”
