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Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

whitehouse.gov

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Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#71

Post by lokar »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #58

One moral risk we play is does legalizing our recreational drug (eg alcohol/cannibis) increase the harm done to addicts[0]? While I maintain that there's a logical inconsistency to having legal alcohol and illegal cannabis, I'm on the fence if the consistency should be that both are somehow controlled/illegal (though absolutely not criminal). Another thought on the subject is how many small charges were simply becaus…

Along that line of thinking, if you prohibit alcohol and cannabis (and I assume tobacco?) to protect addicts, what about casino gambling? How about micro-transaction games that are gambling in all but name?

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#72

Post by cm2187 »

codexb wrote: post #7

This will have virtually zero effect. The president only has the power to pardon people convicted or accused of violating federal law and prosecuted in federal court. The problem is that nearly all people arrested for simple possession of marijuana aren't charged under federal law nor prosecuted in federal court. They are charged under state law that similarly outlaws marijuana possession and prosecuted in state cour…

And when they are charged under federal law, it is often a negotiated downgrade from distribution, i.e. people rarely get sentenced for mere possession.

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#73

Post by jmye »

u32480932048 wrote: post #18
tessierashpool wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the law is always complicated

"because reasons" isn't actually a good justification for a system that's broken and corrupted beyond all repair

Do you generally assume anything potentially complicated, or anything that hasn't been specifically explained to you, is automatically specious?

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#74

Post by tssva »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #53
jkaplowitz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The House doesn’t have to do anything for rescheduling to happen. HHS (one federal agency) has already recommended it to DEA (another federal agency), which has the final say unless Congress were to affirmatively intervene. With that said, they aren’t proposing to grant federal legality to the state-legal recreational marijuana market. They are planning to reclassify it from Schedule I (no recognized medical use) to…

One thing the President might be able to do is to remove legally-sourced marijuana use as a disqualification for holding a US security clearance. It is also disqualifying for other Federal background checks related to buying handguns. Maybe the change from Schedule I to Schedule III would do this automatically.

"One thing the President might be able to do is to remove legally-sourced marijuana use as a disqualification for holding a US security clearance."

Just to clarify, current use of marijuana is a disqualification for a security clearance. Past use of marijuana is not a disqualifier. When I was a younger man I used marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, cocaine and MDMA. Several of them very frequently. I disclosed all of this prior use and was able to get multiple security clearances through the years.

I no longer have nor will in the future have a security clearance so I now enjoy my legal weed.

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#75

Post by dilippkumar »

As an immigrant, this stood out to me:

> ... I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents who ...

> ... This pardon does not apply to individuals who were non-citizens not lawfully present in the United States at the time of their offense.

In the first of the above, it specifically states that it applies to citizens and lawful permanent residents. In the second, it says it does not apply to people who didn't have valid immigration status.

So, what happens to someone who had a valid immigration status, but was not a lawful permanent resident? For example, someone on a student or a tourist visa?

Can anyone with legal expertise shed some light on how such things are usually resolved? My naive expectation would be that it still would only apply to citizens and lawful permanent residents. But then, why specifically call out that it doesn't apply to this specific group out of many other groups that aren't covered under "citizens or lawful permanent residents"?

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#76

Post by sangnoir »

Digory wrote: post #42
djha-skin wrote: post #28

I didn't know blanket pardons were legal. Kind of feels like he's on shaky ground here. If this were allowed then all future presidents could veto in perpetuity any criminal law created by Congress. Speaking of which, his pardon only pardons those who have violated federal or DC laws, not state laws.

Yes, this seems like a constitutional test. If you need this pardon to stand up, you'd better get the certificate from the WH pardon lawyer with your name on it.

Jimmy Carter did the same almost half a century ago by granting a blanket pardon to Vietnam war draft dodgers, and all of them have lived to a ripe old age without being taken to court to test the pardon.

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#77

Post by jeffbee »

Digory wrote: post #36
codexb wrote: post #7

This will have virtually zero effect. The president only has the power to pardon people convicted or accused of violating federal law and prosecuted in federal court. The problem is that nearly all people arrested for simple possession of marijuana aren't charged under federal law nor prosecuted in federal court. They are charged under state law that similarly outlaws marijuana possession and prosecuted in state cour…

As the proclamation says, the District of Columbia's local laws are technically federal laws. So it wipes out the convictions of a good number of people in one of our major cities. I can't quite tell if this applies to military convictions. That would be the other area where the Federal government takes the time to prosecute something as minor as mere possession or use. Another interesting question: does this actuall…

> As the proclamation says, the District of Columbia's local laws are technically federal laws. So it wipes out the convictions of a good number of people in one of our major cities.

According to the report that preceded this action, more than 75% of all federal possession convictions were prosecuted in Arizona. Apparently it was just a rogue jurisdiction.

There are a number of totally bonkers details scattered around this report. https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/weighing-impa...

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#78

Post by Dolototo »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #58

One moral risk we play is does legalizing our recreational drug (eg alcohol/cannibis) increase the harm done to addicts[0]? While I maintain that there's a logical inconsistency to having legal alcohol and illegal cannabis, I'm on the fence if the consistency should be that both are somehow controlled/illegal (though absolutely not criminal). Another thought on the subject is how many small charges were simply becaus…

It's not logical to solve any drug problem by making it illegal.

Illegal means that we don't want people to help, it means we don't want them to do something between don't like it.

Otherwise it doesn't make sense that the result is jail as jail is for punishment (it shouldn't) and not for rehabilitation.

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#79

Post by justrealist »

riffic wrote: post #67
sparrish wrote: post #29

This only applies to federal "possession or use", which nearly never happens. Those convicted of "possession or use" are nearly 100% plea down cases when the actual offense was sales, distribution, or manufacturing.

it used to happen a lot, and this also applies to the district of columbia.

Essentially none of those people are still in prison.

Re: Granting pardon for the offense of simple possession of or use of marijuana

#80

Post by noncoml »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #58

One moral risk we play is does legalizing our recreational drug (eg alcohol/cannibis) increase the harm done to addicts[0]? While I maintain that there's a logical inconsistency to having legal alcohol and illegal cannabis, I'm on the fence if the consistency should be that both are somehow controlled/illegal (though absolutely not criminal). Another thought on the subject is how many small charges were simply becaus…

> It may be that it was hard to prove the accused was doing X, but the bag of weed in their pocket was undeniable...

Your point being?

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