Lawmakers And Advocates Push Biden For More Marijuana Action On One-Year Anniversary Of Mass Pardons And Scheduling Review – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

It was one year ago on Friday that President Joe Biden issued a mass marijuana pardon and directed an administrative scheduling review. Lawmakers and advocates say it’s time to do more.

While there is broad based consensus among reform supporters that the president’s action last year represented a positive step in the right direction, on this first anniversary they’re emphasizing that it was exactly that: just a step and not, by any means, the end of the federal government’s war on cannabis.

“President Biden must send clearer signals that he understands and supports full legalization,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told Marijuana Moment.

“His pardons and initiating the scheduling review were an important step forward, but more is needed. That includes re-issuing the Cole Memo protections and making it a priority to work with Congress to finally rationalize our federal cannabis laws,” he said, referencing Obama-era guidance on deprioritizing federal cannabis enforcement that was rescinded under the Trump administration.

Biden’s pardon affected several thousand people who had committed federal cannabis possession offenses, but advocates were quick to point out the limitations of the relief. Whole classes of people, including immigrants and those charged with selling marijuana, were left out. And it did not release anyone from federal prison or prevent future possession prosecutions after the pardon…