Democrats have a pathological obsession with encouraging substance abuse and immorality. President Joe Biden is no exception.
Biden is set to pardon all federal offenders who were convicted of possession of marijuana, Fox News reported. This effort goes hand in hand with a move toward legalizing the drug that has been steadily gaining steam.
"As I've said before, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana," Biden said in a tweet Thursday. "Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives — for conduct that is legal in many states," the president claimed.
"That's before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction," Biden added. "Today, we begin to right these wrongs."
The president noted that "black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates" despite similar usage of the drug among all races. The pardon will apply to all federal convictions for possession, including in the District of Columbia, officials said.
It must be acknowledged that pardoning past offenders will open up new opportunities that are otherwise out of reach. "There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result," Biden said.
"My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions." There will also be a change to the way marijuana is classified relative to other street drugs, the president said.
"The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a 'schedule one' substance, the same as heroin and LSD – and more serious than fentanyl," Biden noted. "It makes no sense."
There is a concerted effort to remove the legal constraints and stigma surrounding marijuana use. Although it's wrapped in the flowery language of second chances and righting racial wrongs, legalizing yet another drug is simply opening up a door to more substance abuse, broken lives, and fractured families.
