A group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, police professionals and academics signed a letter on Tuesday to President Joe Biden urging him to issue a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all people with non-violence. federal marijuana convictions.
This happens when the administration is actively encouraging about 1,000 people who were temporarily interned at home for federal drug offenses to fill out leniency application forms.
The new letter, signed by renowned stars such as Drake, Killer Mike, Meek Mill, Deion Sanders, Kevin Garnett, Al Harrington and more, says that the war on drugs “has crushed many souls and countless futures, while at the same time widespread intolerable levels of mistrust and dysfunction among minority communities and people sworn to protect them. “
“The harms of imprisonment are obvious, but the pains of federal marijuana convictions transcend prison walls, making it harder for someone to get a job, access affordable housing, and receive an education,” he continues. . “A conviction can forever limit a person’s constitutional rights and can put the American dream out of the reach of an entire family.”
He also refers to Biden’s comments on the campaign trail that supports the decriminalization of cannabis and pledges to eliminate marijuana convictions.
“Enough is enough. No one should be locked up in federal prison for nonviolent marijuana offenses,” says the letter, coordinated by civil rights activist Weldon Angelos, who received the presidential pardon on his own. “No one should continue to carry the scarlet letter of a federal conviction for past marijuana offenses.”
“Relieving the federal war on marijuana would not only be fair, but it would also be a good policy in advancing public safety and economic prosperity. A general pardon poses a low risk to the American public by removing records. and release the last prisoners from the federal marijuana ban.The sentences to be commuted represent a small percentage of the federal prison population and are only imprisoned for nonviolent marijuana offenses.The rest of the beneficiaries of a categorical pardon represent an even lower risk, as these people already live peacefully among their neighbors ”.
The letter, which was also signed by 2 Chainz, Ty Dolla $ ign and TI, goes on to state that there are precedents for relief, pointing to the actions taken by Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in the 1970s to categorically forgive Americans who they avoided the project. for the Vietnam War.
Rapper Ralo, who is serving an eight-year sentence for a nonviolent marijuana offense, is among the people the letter’s signatories say they deserve relief. In a press release, Ralo thanked the “hip hop community” for supporting my clemency, because it is not right to allow companies to violate federal law and become millionaires while people like me they go to jail for years. “
“That’s hypocrisy,” he said. “But I hope Joe Biden lives up to his campaign promise and grants us clemency without delay, so we can return home to our families and communities.”
The letter concludes by telling Biden that “a general clemency will send a clear and powerful message that our country is really taking a new course on criminal justice policy and practice.”
Other signatories include former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (R / L), former U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham (R-SC), Grover Norquist of Americans for Reform Tax, Mark Holden of Koch Industries, Leniency Alice Johnson, and state legislators in the legislatures of Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas. Former federal prosecutors and other law enforcement professionals also signed.
A coalition of advocates and lawmakers sent letters with a similar request to Biden in early February in his presidency.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press conference last month that Biden “explores multiple avenues to provide relief to certain nonviolent drug offenders, even through the use of their power to clemency “.
The administration “works hard every day to reform our judicial system in order to strengthen families, boost our economy and give people the opportunity for a better future,” he said. “As part of that, the president is deeply committed to reducing imprisonment, helping people re-enter society successfully. And he has said there are too many people imprisoned, who are too black and brown. ”.
Psaki added at the time that there was nothing that could be predicted at the time, but said the president “is looking at several avenues” for relief. The fact that, as a senator, Biden played a key role in enacting punitive drug laws that contributed to mass imprisonment, he is now considering the steps to be taken did not arise during the exchange.
Biden has faced criticism from drug policy advocates who have been frustrated because he has yet to deliver on campaign promises, such as the decriminalization of marijuana. While their opposition to legalizing adult use remains a challenge in itself, they believe it should at least take steps to enact modest reform.
The president also campaigned to remove previous cannabis records and respect the rights of states to establish their own laws.
However, since taking office, his administration has not advanced any of these promises and has instead fired its own White House employees for marijuana and tried to extend a budget allocation that has prevented in Washington, DC, the legalization of cannabis sales.
In April, Psaki insisted on Biden’s promise of clemency for people with federal marijuana and said the process will begin with a modest reprogramming of cannabis, a proposal advocates say would not really live up to what she suggests. .
The transfer of cannabis from Annex I to Annex II under the Controlled Substances Act, as proposed by Biden on the campaign trail, will not facilitate mass leniency as being convicted of drug-related offenses in this slightly lower category (which currently includes cocaine) also carries significant penalties.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in a recent interview that Biden could and should use executive authority to end the federal marijuana ban, but both have “differences” over the policy of drugs. However, there are legal questions about whether a president could legalize cannabis unilaterally under existing statutes.
Read the full letter in Biden below:
Marijuana Leniency Letter to President Biden for Marijuana Moment in Scribd
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