Does President Biden want more teens smoking in school bathrooms? Well… not quite. President Biden has acted to decriminalize marijuana possession in order to fight racism systematically. But what exactly did he just do?
In early October 2022, President Joe Biden announced his plan to pardon all people convicted of simple marijuana possession. According to the Marshall Project citing the White House and the U.S. Sentencing Commission, no one is currently incarcerated from those charges, so no one was let out of prison as a result of this announcement. However, this means that anyone arrested or convicted of possessing marijuana will have those offenses removed from their criminal records.
“In 2018 – unchanged from 2010 – Black people were still nearly 4 times more likely than white people to get arrested for marijuana possession, despite similar usage rates”, said U.S. News and World Report citing a report done by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The fact that Black people are more commonly incarcerated than white people causes them to be disproportionately denied job opportunities, education, and/or housing. This further oppresses them and contributes to the racial discrimination Black people in America face everyday.
Landlords, employers, and banks often see criminal records as a deterrent when deciding whether or not to give someone a loan, job, or rent a home. But, without a record holding someone back they can be fairly compared to their peers. By breaking down some of the barriers that are segregating our country, we are slowly creating a more equal society.