Biden pardons those convicted of using marijuana

[southernhybrid]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/politics/biden-marijuana-pardon.html

President Biden on Thursday pardoned all people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Class 1 drug like heroin and LSD.
The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana from 1992 to 2021 and thousands more who were convicted of possession in the District of Columbia, officials said. Officials said the president would urge governors to follow his lead for people convicted on state charges of possession.
The moves are striking shifts for the federal government on an issue that was a campaign promise that Mr. Biden made in 2020.
“Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives — for conduct that is legal in many states,” Mr. Biden said on Twitter on Thursday. “That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs.”

It's about time. Ironically, the most straight president did the job that should have been done years ago! Hopefully, governors will follow in his footsteps, although I'm not holding out hope for many of the Republican ones.

 

[blastula]

 

[Ford]

Dank Brandon?

 

[Gospel]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

 

[southernhybrid]

Locking up people for using THC, is not only cruel, it was extremely expensive, considering the cost of law enforcement and imprisonment.

I feel that way about all recreational drugs, but we have a long way to go before people understand that it's wrong and expensive to lock up people for using chemicals that are harmful to them.

 

[Jarhyn]

Locking up people for using THC, is not only cruel, it was extremely expensive, considering the cost of law enforcement and imprisonment.

I feel that way about all recreational drugs, but we have a long way to go before people understand that it's wrong and expensive to lock up people for using chemicals that are harmful to them.

But the for-profit prisons need them some slaves!

 

[southernhybrid]

Locking up people for using THC, is not only cruel, it was extremely expensive, considering the cost of law enforcement and imprisonment.

I feel that way about all recreational drugs, but we have a long way to go before people understand that it's wrong and expensive to lock up people for using chemicals that are harmful to them.

But the for-profit prisons need them some slaves!

Sadly, it's not just the for profit prisons that are the problem. Some of the worst prisons in the US are state and federal prisons.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

This isn't law, just how law is executed, with a Democrat in charge. That can change and without Congress legalizing it, it is still not quite legal.

 

[Jarhyn]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

This isn't law, just how law is executed, with a Democrat in charge. That can change and without Congress legalizing it, it is still not quite legal.

Yeah. I wonder if Biden can pardon all the money and property that was charged with being intended for use in marijuana related crime.

Like.. departments have seized so much money from dispensaries, which they "charge with a crime", and then spend on their own budgets.

 

[Gospel]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

This isn't law, just how law is executed, with a Democrat in charge. That can change and without Congress legalizing it, it is still not quite legal.

True, I was jumping way ahead. This is just a small step in the right direction.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

This isn't law, just how law is executed, with a Democrat in charge. That can change and without Congress legalizing it, it is still not quite legal.

Yeah. I wonder if Biden can pardon all the money and property that was charged with being intended for use in marijuana related crime.

Like.. departments have seized so much money from dispensaries, which they "charge with a crime", and then spend on their own budgets.

If at all, only when federal charges were involved.

 

[Jayjay]

Will this affect the midterm elections?

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[Jarhyn]

Legal dispensaries should be rejoicing right now. This means they won't be idiotically forced to operate in cash while local police use civil forfeiture to fill their coffers.

This isn't law, just how law is executed, with a Democrat in charge. That can change and without Congress legalizing it, it is still not quite legal.

Yeah. I wonder if Biden can pardon all the money and property that was charged with being intended for use in marijuana related crime.

Like.. departments have seized so much money from dispensaries, which they "charge with a crime", and then spend on their own budgets.

If at all, only when federal charges were involved.

The DEA seizes a LOT of money through such programs from state licensed dispensaries.

 

[Jarhyn]

SLiPpErY sLoPe! sLiPpERy SlOpE!

 

[Elixir]

SLiPpErY sLoPe! sLiPpERy SlOpE!

No shit.
I had no sooner read about it, than I was overtaken by an irresistible urge for some fentanyl-adulterated heroin.

 

[Jarhyn]

SLiPpErY sLoPe! sLiPpERy SlOpE!

No shit.
I had no sooner read about it, than I was overtaken by an irresistible urge for some fentanyl-adulterated heroin.

There was a one month period as a part of a single class I took in highschool where a single teacher went over common tropes of false or misleading statements in advertising and marketing.

That was, to my knowledge, the first and last time before college that I received any compulsory education at all in how to tell someone was not being honest, or not delivering reliable information.

 

[Toni]

Locking up people for using THC, is not only cruel, it was extremely expensive, considering the cost of law enforcement and imprisonment.

I feel that way about all recreational drugs, but we have a long way to go before people understand that it's wrong and expensive to lock up people for using chemicals that are harmful to them.

I feel that way about all recreational drug use EXCEPT that unless we get serious and start to effectively treat addiction (drugs, alcohol, etc) as well as mental illness and let us not forget seriously address pain management, we will have even more of a disaster on our hands. I write this as someone who knows a lot of people, some since their childhoods or mine, whose lives have been seriously damaged because adults in their lives had/have out of control addictions---and zero convictions or even arrests for.....anything. I've seen some pretty nice kids: smart, creative, from loving, caring, stable families get into some really bad shit out of curiosity and deciding to just try (insert name of illicit substance), dragging everyone who cares about them down as far as possible. Some of those did end up doing some time, although not directly because of substance abuse but instead for things they did while loaded.

 

[lpetrich]

SLiPpErY sLoPe! sLiPpERy SlOpE!

Yes, to cocaine and heroin and LSD and meth.

 

[southernhybrid]

Locking up people for using THC, is not only cruel, it was extremely expensive, considering the cost of law enforcement and imprisonment.

I feel that way about all recreational drugs, but we have a long way to go before people understand that it's wrong and expensive to lock up people for using chemicals that are harmful to them.

I feel that way about all recreational drug use EXCEPT that unless we get serious and start to effectively treat addiction (drugs, alcohol, etc) as well as mental illness and let us not forget seriously address pain management, we will have even more of a disaster on our hands. I write this as someone who knows a lot of people, some since their childhoods or mine, whose lives have been seriously damaged because adults in their lives had/have out of control addictions---and zero convictions or even arrests for.....anything. I've seen some pretty nice kids: smart, creative, from loving, caring, stable families get into some really bad shit out of curiosity and deciding to just try (insert name of illicit substance), dragging everyone who cares about them down as far as possible. Some of those did end up doing some time, although not directly because of substance abuse but instead for things they did while loaded.

What I would like to see, in addition to offering rehab, are ways to allow those who use drugs like heroin, to administer them as safely as possible. Needle exchanges are one way to help. As long as these drugs remain criminalized, it's easy for drugs laced with fentanyl to enter the country and be used by unsuspecting people. Some conservative politicians want to ban the little test strips that people use to test illegal drugs for fentanyl. I recently read about a group of college students that were about to use some opioids, but they had the test strips so they checked the drugs before they took them. They found they were heavily laced with fentanyl, so they threw them away. If not for those test strips, at least some of those students would likely have died. You know what's sad. Rx. fentanyl used to be used for severe chronic pain without any issues for most people. I seriously doubt any doctor would prescribe it these days due to the over reaction to the so called opioid crisis, and the fact that it's now being put into other drugs without the knowledge of the user. Now those who suffer in chronic pain have to beg, and jump through hoops to obtain Rx. for pain.

Students often experiment with drugs, like it or not. Some people will always use drugs and rehab doesn't always work, so I do wish we could at least make it safer for those who have this problem. My father never did a single drug, but he was cruel and caused a lot of terrible problems, especially for my sister. Dysfunctional families come in all varieties. Some people use drugs in an attempt to escape their problems. Some may be predisposed to drug usage. Making drugs legal or at least decriminalizing them, helps solve some larger problems.

Drugs have always been with us. Some people will always use them regardless of the laws. That is why I feel the best solution is to try and make them safer and to stop imprisoning people for simply doing potential harm to themselves.

I never tried any drugs when I was in college or during my 20s. I've never tried anything stronger than weed, but my Jersey sister tried anything she could get her hands on during her teens and early 20s. She had a drinking problem until she was about 30 or so, and then she gave it all up. I don't think she is that unusual, as young people tend to take a lot more risks than more mature adults do. If we could make drug usage safer, that would be a big accomplishment.

Anyway....I didn't mean to get into other drugs, as this thread was originally meant to be about the most commonly used recreational drug.