Following President Joe Biden’s announcement earlier this month that he would pardon the American citizens and permanent residents convicted of federal low-level cannabis possession charges, advocates continue pressing for further action. Namely, a protest, led by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and the Last Prisoner Project on Monday, sought to highlight the remaining insufficiencies of Biden’s recent announcement.
The protest carried on for several hours, with speeches and civil disobedience, even shutting down a major street in Washington, D.C. with a 5-foot inflatable joint, and one activist was arrested by Secret Service after she breached a White House gate, Marijuana Moment reports. Advocates were reportedly anticipating additional arrests, but agents had spoken with organizers, seemingly convincing the groups to avoid breaching additional barriers.
In an SSDP blog post, the group explains that the protest was meant to draw attention to the lack of people released from federal prison as a result of Biden’s recent order, noting that the administration has admitted the action “will not release a single person currently incarcerated for cannabis offenses.”
The group cites a nationally televised debate from November 2019, where Biden said, “Number one, I think we need to decriminalize marijuana. PERIOD. And I think, anyone who has a record should be let out of jail, records expunged. Completely zeroed out.”
Jason Ortiz, executive director of SSDP, said Biden’s ‘90s policies resulted in “extreme sentences” being handed down for non-violent drug crimes.
“Biden promised to release these prisoners to address his role in creating mass incarceration and the cannabis community has a moral obligation to hold his feet to the fire until our friends are reunited with their families,” Ortiz added.
The advocate who breached the gate was Sarah Noon of Columbia University’s SSDP chapter. Noon was allegedly forced to the ground by officers, who yelled at onlookers to stay back.
“I’m here today because Biden made a promise to release all cannabis prisoners, and he has fallen short of that promise,” Noon said in a statement. “We are civil resisters. ‘Civil’ because we are friends of the government, but we can not cooperate with the unfulfilled promise from the leader of our government.”
The protest was planned before Biden’s announcement, which was met with a mixed bag of responses. Some drug reform advocates praised the move, voicing optimism for the road ahead, though others have argued that the pardons don’t do enough to substantially change drug policy in the U.S. Many have taken a similar stance to the protesters, citing Biden’s failure to make good on campaign promises nearly two years into his presidential term.
Advocates also pushed Biden to expand the relief for groups who weren’t covered by the recent proclamation, like immigrants and people who have sold cannabis.
As far as the latter group, Biden indicated last week that he won’t grant relief to people in prison for selling cannabis.
“I’m keeping my promise that no one should be in jail for merely using or possessing marijuana,” he said. “None. And the records, which hold up people from being able to get jobs and the like, should be totally expunged. Totally expunged,” adding, “You can’t sell it, but if it’s just use, you’re completely free.”
It’s still unclear if the president’s remarks describe his most recent pardons or if he is ruling out clemency for those who sold cannabis entirely.
Following Biden’s move, the groups behind the protest sent a letter to Biden, calling the action a “great first step” but noting that it “did nothing to address the thousands of federal cannabis prisoners currently incarcerated.”
“We would prefer not to have to escalate our protests, however your administration has thus far refused to release our incarcerated neighbors, friends, and family members and it is therefore our moral duty to mobilize sufficient public attention to your lack of action on this urgent injustice that you promised to address,” the letter reads.
Biden touted earlier this week that the limited clemency move was “keeping my promise” on cannabis. The Justice Department and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have also committed to quickly carry out the separate scheduling review Biden directed.
A series of recent polls have also found that the majority of Americans support the move. Whether this is a jumping off point or the end of the line, we’ll have to stay tuned.
