Biden makes a rare mention of marijuana in the State of the Union
Buried in President Biden’s fiery reelection pitch in his State of the Union address on Thursday night was a brief mention of an issue he has often been reluctant to embrace: marijuana.
It was the first time Mr. Biden raised the topic in his annual address, a high-profile inclusion that could mark a shift toward promoting the efforts he has made to liberalize cannabis policy. And it renewed speculation that a president who has long been personally conservative on this issue might be willing to more fully take positions that enjoy broad support not only in his party but also among the broader public as he gears up for a difficult campaign.
Federal law puts marijuana in the same category as drugs like heroin and LSD, and Mr. Biden has shied away from calling for its legalization. But his speech addressed the more limited steps he had taken to smooth out the law’s hard edges.
While finalizing goals and initiatives on guns, police reforms and domestic violence, he also included “directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana, and expunging thousands of convictions for mere possession because no one is in jail may be jailed for simply using marijuana.” .”
Decriminalizing cannabis and automatically expunging convictions for its use were among the president’s promises in his first campaign, and his administration has been moving toward that goal ever since, with proposals to downgrade marijuana among the most serious drugs and issuing thousands of pardons and commutations for nonviolent drug crimes. .
Any move toward relaxing marijuana policies could prove fertile political ground. Polls show that the number of Americans who support legalization is steadily increasing over time.
According to Gallup’s tracking Last year, as many as 70 percent of Americans believed the use should be legal. Support was strongest among the youngest adults, with nearly eight in 10 18-to-34-year-olds in favor of full legalization, an age group in which polls show the president no longer has support.
The Biden campaign has sought sharper contrasts with his all-but-certain Republican opponent, former President Donald J. Trump, whose own language on crime has grown more apocalyptic as the campaign has progressed. He has said he admires the freedom despots have to execute drug dealers.
Yet many of the steps taken by the White House so far have not decisively changed the legal uncertainty surrounding marijuana use.
The thousands of pardons and commutations that Mr. Biden has issued do not equate to expunging those criminal records, despite his laments about the impact that prior convictions can have on job seekers.
And whether federal criminal penalties for marijuana will be reduced remains uncertain. In 2022, Mr. Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate whether the drug could be reclassified from a Schedule I drug, the most restrictive category and which carries stiff penalties under federal trafficking laws, to Schedule III, with the intention of reclassifying it. more widely accepted for medical use.
The department recommended the change last August. But the recommendation still needs to be reviewed by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which could take action this year.