The president of United States, Joe Bidenannounced on Thursday the pardon of all those convicted of possession of marijuana and met a demand from his supporters a month before the mid-term legislative elections.
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“I am announcing a pardon of all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana,” Biden said in a statement.
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The president also called on the health and judicial authorities to rethink the penalties associated with marijuana, at a time when the movement for its decriminalization finds strong support in the United States.
I am announcing a pardon for all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana.
He insisted, however, on the importance of continue the fight against the trafficking and sale of cannabis to minors. These new measures are also intended to rectify criminal proceedings that disproportionately affect ethnic minorities, he noted.
“Erasing the criminal records of people convicted of drug possession is a matter of social justice,” applauded influential progressive lawmaker Pramila Jayapal.
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The lower house of the US Congress had approved a bill in early April, presented by the legislators of the ruling Democratic Party, intended to remove cannabis from the federal list of dangerous drugs. The text must still be ratified by the Senate.
A call to the young
Nineteen of the 50 American states, as well as the capital Washington, have already legalized the use of cannabis for recreational purposes for adults.
In most states, its medicinal use is authorized in different degrees, from oils that contain a low level of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive principle of cannabis) to pure marijuana. Only a handful of ultraconservative and rural states, such as Idaho, Wyoming or Nebraska, remain uncompromising.
But interestingly, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. Biden’s announcement on Thursday symbolizes a first step toward his reclassification.
Marijuana use among American youth hit record levels last year, according to a recent study. The president’s decision can also be interpreted as a call to this electorate, one month before the midterm elections.
As a whole, the American population is overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing cannabis. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, 91% of adults think that marijuana should be legal, for medical use, recreational use, or both.
Sales of legal cannabis in the United States were around 25,000 million dollars last year and all experts predict that the sector will grow rapidly in the coming years.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP