Benzinga - by Maureen Meehan, Benzinga Editor.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Justice Department officials celebrated April as "Second Chance Month" on Friday. Biden earlier kicked off the month by calling attention to his administration’s pardons, signaling that marijuana is becoming an important issue as a tight presidential election race looms.
According to a new survey by The New York Times and Siena College published Saturday, Biden has nearly erased Donald Trump's early polling advantage. Trump holds a slim lead of 46% to Biden’s 45%.
Second Chances
“In December, the President issued his second categorical pardon for certain marijuana offenses by expanding it to people who used marijuana or violated certain federal regulations,” said Monaco, referring to Biden’s 2022 and 2023 pardons for people convicted of simple possession.
Can Cannabis Legalization Help Biden’s Re-Election?
“Incarceration for marijuana possession alone has destroyed too many lives, particularly for Black and brown Americans, who have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups,” Biden said at the beginning of Second Chance Month 2024, now in its second year.
Since the Biden administration directed the Drug Enforcement Administration this past August to review cannabis reform and reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, it’s been a waiting game.
Meanwhile, Biden continues to reiterate the same statement: no one should be incarcerated for possessing cannabis. He even said so in his SOTU speech.
At another event on Friday, Biden made similar comments at the National Action Network's (NAN) 2024 Convention in New York City where he delivered a keynote virtual address from the White House. NAN, founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, works on racial justice and civil rights issues as part of its mission to follow the vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Biden told the NAN convention he's "keeping my promise that no one should be in federal prison for merely possessing marijuana," while fulfilling other criminal justice reform commitments.
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