Written By: Janakiram Rajaraman
Edited By: Michael Shalonov
Last Thursday, President Biden announced that American citizens or lawful permanent residents convicted for simple possession of Marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act passed in 1971 will be given a full and unconditional pardon. The President also emphasized that while this pardon only applies to federal charges, he and his administration are working on trying to convince state governments to drop charges related to Marijuana possession at the state level as well. Officials expect this decision to affect at least 6500 people convicted of simple Marijuana possession from 1992 onwards, though that figure does not include lawful permanent residents and other individuals charged under the District of Columbia laws, who have been pardoned as well (Shear and Kanno-Youngs). With midterms coming up in November, there are a couple of important things that both parties must consider after this decision made by President Biden.
Politico
The primary issue is regarding the potential reclassification of Marijuana, which the Biden administration is already considering implementing. Currently, Marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 drug as per the Controlled Substances Act. According to the US DEA, a Schedule 1 drug is any drug or substance with no acknowledged medical use with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” (US DEA). The Schedule 1 drug classification also includes substances like LSD and heroin. In recent years, however, Marijuana has been used for medical purposes as well, predominantly as a painkiller for those suffering from chronic aging pain or post-surgery pain. The Biden Administration has been urged by Democratic lawmakers to reclassify Marijuana in accordance with FDA policies. Attempts to reschedule Marijuana might be met with opposition from Republican lawmakers, as it was earlier this year when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a bill to declassify Marijuana. The bill currently lacks the votes to pass, but this might add to more political tension given that midterms are coming up in November (Daniels and Fertig).
The second main issue of consideration ties to public affairs. In Democratic-run cities, crime rates have been on the rise. One could point to the notion that drug and quality of life related crimes may lead to more violent and disruptive social unrest in the future, although this has not been substantively proven. On the other hand, quality-of-life crimes are judged based on extravagant moral standards and laws made to target these crimes that disproportionately affect the poor and minority groups. President Biden has already made clear his intentions to get marijuana rescheduled as a Schedule Two drug, which is nothing but a drug that has a high potential for abuse, as well as a likelihood of leading to the dependence of some sort after prolonged use (US DEA). According to Politico polling, roughly two-thirds of surveyed Americans support legalization (Daniels and Fertig). However, recent polls by the Brookings Institution show that fewer than 20% of primary candidates from both parties mentioned marijuana or cannabis rescheduling and reform as one of their priorities. Lawmakers seem scared to take a decisive stand on marijuana legalization fearing political backlash in the upcoming midterm elections.
There is also the commercial side within the marijuana dilemma. Despite its usage being potentially reclassified, the sale, growing, and transport of marijuana will still be regulated, given that it is still considered to have the potential for abuse. Legalization will impact both business owners and employees in the cannabis business. Marijuana growers have been known to exploit illegal immigrant workers by paying them low wages and forcing them to live and work under strenuous conditions. Legalization and reclassification could help with the plight of those workers as well and will help expose businesses that are off the books so that the government can supervise them and bring them to justice in accordance with the law (Fertig and Mueller). However, there is also the issue of illegal immigrants to consider, which Republicans may use as a political cudgel against the opposing aisle in the coming weeks, in regard to open borders and rampant crime.
Some Democratic lawmakers think that the pardons will not be enough to help people who lost out on years of life and job opportunities as a result of convictions, while Republican lawmakers are seeking to capitalize on people’s fears about increased crime rates. Amid all this turmoil, the nation is also seeing a rise in violent crime, like in school shootings and kidnappings. Marijuana reclassification in addition to these issues might just turn the tides in favor of the Republican party this coming November. With President Biden not only offering full pardons but also attempting to persuade state governments to follow suit, Democrats might be in for a rude awakening during the fall midterm elections. They must tread carefully with this issue if they want to maintain their slim Congressional majorities.
[The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the author alone; they do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the RULR Editorial Board and Rutgers University]
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