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OCTOBER
**7, 2022**
Gurley on TAP
Biden to Disaffected Voters: This Is What Leadership Looks Like
Much more remains to be done, but the presidential cannabis pardon is
one of the most significant drug policy developments since the 1970s.
President Biden finally met the moment with a right-on-time proclamation
pardoning all federal and District of Columbia convictions for simple
marijuana possession. Among the most significant developments in drug
policy since Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, the
proclamation
marks a stunning evolution for Biden, one of the architects of harsher
"War on Drugs" penalties and a parent who grappled with his younger
son's drug abuse. One month before midterm elections that increasingly
look like a choice between clinging onto democracy and belly-flopping
into autocracy, the decision comes off as a brilliant strategic gambit
that demonstrates that the Biden administration is serious about using
executive powers when Congress declines to act expeditiously to reverse
the serious harms woven into the fabric of American life.
This proclamation says more to the average voter about how government
intersects with their daily lives than most of the inside-the-Beltway,
three-dimensional chess moves of the past two years. Coming on the heels
of recent developments, the surprising passage of the Inflation
Reduction Act, the massive hurricane aid package to Florida, and a "no
one f***s with a Biden" Fort Myers hot mic exchange that sent Dark
Brandon memes
careening around the interwebs, the president has scrambled the odds for
holding on to both houses of Congress, odds that many in the
commentariat took great glee in pummeling him with a few months ago.
Biden leaves Republicans boxed in on marijuana legalization.
Pearl-clutching reactionaries will undoubtedly harass Democratic
candidates with "crime" and "drug addicts" and "those people" ads and
accusations in the weeks ahead. But opposing cannabis reform is not
going to generate the heat and light that they seek. A Morning
Consult/Politico September 30-October 2 national tracking poll
found that 60 percent of respondents supported marijuana legalization
and 63 percent "strongly support" or "somewhat support" the April House
vote to legalize cannabis.
But certain expectations about the proclamation's reach should be
tempered. About 6,500 people stand to benefit. (There are no people
currently serving sentences
in federal prisons for simple possession.) A "certificate of pardon"
would mean, for example, that a person with a simple cannabis possession
offense would no longer have to check a "criminal record" box on
applications for employment or college financial aid.
A presidential proclamation also has no force of law in the states and
localities where the vast majority of convictions have been handed down,
which means that people will continue to face consequences of previous
possession convictions depending on the state where they live. These
jurisdictions will have to take their own steps-and the president
encouraged governors to take them-to eliminate simple possession
convictions from a person's record. How far a pardon actually goes
depends on the language a state or locality uses. Expungement, for
example, delivers more of a "clean slate" approach that permanently
removes convictions from a person's record.
The president directed the Departments of Justice and Health and Human
Services to "review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under
federal law" to determine whether the drug should be rescheduled, that
is, removed from the most restrictive tier where it is classed with
heroin and LSD. What "expeditiously" means in a high-profile, federal
bureaucratic context is anyone's guess.
There is a long slog ahead on the road toward cannabis legalization. But
this presidential proclamation sends a strong signal to African
Americans and Latinos, two disaffected constituencies whose interest in
voting this time around is by no means guaranteed, that the White House
is moving in a positive direction that merits casting a ballot to avoid
hitting the brick wall that losing Congress to a punishment-obsessed
Republican Party would mean.
~ GABRIELLE GURLEY
Follow Gabrielle Gurley on Twitter
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