As election season continues to build steam, the Biden Administration continues to emphasize its efforts around cannabis pardons to rally support among specific voter demographics. Most recently, Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the administration’s cannabis-related moves in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary election.
Harris cited the administration’s move to issue pardons for simple cannabis possession under federal law as one way it has shown up for young people, Black voters and young Black voters. The vice president referenced the efforts after emphasizing the administration’s work to fund historically Black colleges and universities.
“Another issue: what we have done to pardon tens of thousands of people for simple marijuana possession under the federal law, because frankly, nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” Harris said. “And so these are some of the things that we have done that I think really do resonate with young people, with Black voters and young Black voters, with young Black men. And there’s more to do.”
Biden Administration Continues Touting Pardons in Presidential Campaign
On Tuesday, the White House also issued a new fact sheet titled, “The Biden-?Harris Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans and Communities Across the Country.” Under a section titled “Enhancing Public Trust and Strengthening Public Safety for Black Communities,” the document focuses on the administration’s cannabis-related efforts.
It starts by noting the steps to “right the wrongs stemming from our Nation’s failed approach to marijuana” by directing the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice to review the schedule status of cannabis. It also emphasizes Biden’s pardons for simple cannabis possession.
“While white, Black, and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionately higher rates,” the fact sheet continues.
The administration released a fact sheet (under the same name as the most recent fact sheet on the topic) last February, Black History Month, emphasizing many of the same points while also highlighting that Biden had called on state governors to follow his lead in pardoning local-level offenses. February 2023 also had Biden highlighting his pardons at a Black History Month event, along with his recurring refrain that no one should be in prison for using or possessing cannabis.
This campaign visit reflects the most recent instance of a continued trend as the administration continues to highlight its pro-cannabis efforts during events and conversations centering Black people and young voters. In September 2023, the White House released another fact sheet similarly highlighting its cannabis moves in an effort to show how the administration is
“delivering for young Americans.”
The Administration’s Continued Inflation of Cannabis Efforts
While Harris specifically referenced the “tens of thousands of people” who have been pardoned, the Justice Departments has estimated that roughly 13,000 have been affected by Biden’s October 2022 and December 2023 clemency pardons.
This reflects another Biden Administration trend as it pertains to these conversations, namely over-inflating the impact of the pardons and its cannabis reform efforts overall.
As mentioned, Biden often states that no one should be in jail for cannabis possession or use, but a presidential pardon does not release people from prison or expunge criminal records. Further, no one who received a pardon was actively incarcerated in federal prison for simple cannabis possession, and there are still people in prison over non-violent cannabis offenses.
The pardon only applies to citizens and lawful permanent residents, to the frustration of many immigrants’ rights advocates. Other groups, like those who have been charged with selling cannabis, were also excluded from the presidential pardon.
Moreover, the move feels underwhelming to many pro-cannabis advocates, as Biden pledged throughout his campaign to decriminalize cannabis and legalize medical cannabis—both of which he has yet to accomplish.
Still, the administration continues to leverage the two instances of presidential pardons and the ongoing potential rescheduling of cannabis to garner support from young voters and Black voters.
This most recent reference comes as Biden’s approval among young voters seems to be dwindling, as many cite the lack of fulfilled campaign promises, continued economic woes, the lack of codifying (and the overturning of) Roe v. Wade and his handling of the Israeli-Hamas war as reasoning, among others.
