Friend,

Fifty-three years ago, President Nixon declared the “war on drugs,” the longest war in the nation’s history. This created the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), our country’s system of criminalizing drugs – and the people who use them. Nixon’s declaration set in place decades of suffering, incarceration, and racially discriminatory enforcement of drug laws. Today, its effects are still felt, even for drugs that have been legalized in many states like marijuana.  

Tell the Biden Administration you support federal marijuana decriminalization and ending the drug war.


Today, Black people are 3.64 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite using marijuana at similar rates. Federal marijuana criminalization means that even in states that allow for legal adult use, people continue to be arrested and incarcerated. And criminal records lock them out of access to housing, food, employment, and more. 

President Biden has repeatedly promised to end federal marijuana criminalization. But now, his administration is walking back those promises and proposing to reschedule marijuana instead. Rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III would result in tax parity for marijuana businesses, but rescheduling also means that marijuana criminalization and its harms would remain in place. People could still be jailed or deported for marijuana. Individuals could still lose access to SNAP food benefits for a marijuana offense. And people could still lose their jobs or even custody of their children for a marijuana offense. That’s why we are demanding an end to marijuana criminalization by removing marijuana from the CSA, or descheduling it. 

Tell the White House that rescheduling is not enough. After decades of the failed war on marijuana, our communities demand federal decriminalization. 

The Biden Administration’s public comment period on federal marijuana rescheduling is only open for a few more weeks. To address the harms of the failed war on drugs and build a future where drug policy is grounded in health, safety, and social equity, we need you to make your voice heard now. 

Learn more about the fight to federally decriminalize marijuana and why rescheduling is not enough. 

Thank you for standing with us,