Anyone convicted of marijuana possession in federal cases is pardoned by the president. Norwegian drug reform activists are elated.
Updated only now
The president’s decision is touted as the first step towards decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level.
Recreational marijuana use is already legal in 19 US states. Now the president is urging governors to do like him at the state level.
– Sending people to jail for possession of marijuana has disrupted the lives of many and people are being sent to jail for things that many states no longer prohibit, says the president.
In this country too, the debate on the legalization of cannabis is ongoing. There is cheering on Twitter among many of the advocates of legalization.
Former MDG leader, representative of Storting Une Bastholm, is one of them:
– The President of the United States has given us the good news today, he writes.
Biden points out that registered marijuana possession creates obstacles for many, both in the housing and employment markets, and in the education sector.
The president also says that although the use of marijuana between whites and black people is equal, this is not reflected in the statistics of those who are arrested and convicted for it.
Statistics presented by the Biden administration show that 6,500 US citizens were convicted of marijuana possession between 1992 and 2021 at the federal level. But no one gets jailed in federal prisons just for marijuana possession, NBC writes.
Law professor, US expert and Liberal Party deputy in Storting, Sofie Alexandra Engli Høgestøl, writes the following about the news:
– Yes, now things are happening here! Biden looks poised to introduce his drug reform. Are these the first steps towards decriminalizing marijuana?
Arild Knutsen, head of the Association for Humane Drug Policy, attached President Biden’s tweet on the issue and writes “This is great.”
He receives a response from the leader of the Young Liberal Party Ane Breivik, who writes: “Herremin hat!”
Five parliamentary representatives from the Conservative Party, SV, Red, MDG and Venstre wrote a report on the fight for drug reforma reform that the Labor Party ended in 2020.
Liberal leader Guri Melby was too clear that he wants a rematch.
Biden’s decision comes a month before the mid-term elections in the United States, where, among other things, there is a fight over who will have the majority in Congress. Pennsylvania Governor John Fetterman (D) is among those who made decriminalization a campaign problem, CNN writes.
