WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - DECEMBER 11: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event to announce new cabinet nominations at the Queen Theatre on December 11, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. President-elect Joe Biden is continuing to round out his domestic team with the announcement of his choices for cabinet secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, and the heads of his domestic policy council and the U.S. Trade Representative. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden pardoned thousands people convicted of possession of marijuana under federal law, fulfilling a campaign promise.
Government officials didn’t provide an exact number of people affected but said that 6,500 people were convicted of simple possession between 1992 and 2021.
The pardon is also valid for people convicted under District of Columbia drug law, which increases by a few thousands the number of people pardoned.
“Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives — for conduct that is legal in many states,” Biden said on Twitter. “That’s before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs.”
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According to officials, there ate no Americans serving time in prison solely on federal simple marijuana possession. The pardon, however, will likely clear people who’s trying to get a job or applying to college, cases in which criminal charges become an obstacle.
The pardon does not apply to selling and distribution of marijuana.
Biden urged governors to follow his lead and also pardon people convicted under state charges, which outnumber federal ones.
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