The president added that regulations that limit the trafficking, marketing and sales to minors shouldn’t change but that states should follow the administration’s lead because the vast majority of people incarcerated for marijuana possession in the U.S. are convicted under state or local laws.
“The President has been clear that marijuana laws are not working,” said a senior administration official. “The president has been considering his options and he is now taking executive action.”
The move, pushed for by advocates for months, brings marijuana policy to the fore just weeks before the midterm elections, underscoring just how much the politics of the issue have changed in a short period of time. Polling consistently shows that roughly two-thirds of Americans support marijuana legalization. But despite the popularity of legalization, fewer than one in five 2022 primary candidates mentioned cannabis reform on their website or on social media, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution.
The practical impact, at least immediately, may be limited. Most people in federal prison for cannabis offenses are not in prison for minor, nonviolent offenses — so the number of individuals affected by this order will be in the thousands, according to the White House.
The move, nevertheless, is remarkable for Biden, a 79-year-old president who had written some of the tough-on-crime drug laws that advocates note led to current incarceration rates. Biden was the…
