Marijuana pardons affect small number of those convicted

States not bound by Biden’s action

WASHINGTON — Valerie Schultz’s conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana in 2010 was anything but simple.

Schultz was arrested on federal land, the Mount Olympus Trail in Utah, which means she was charged under federal law. Authorities found pot in her car, so her license was revoked. Without the ability to drive, she was forced to give up her job teaching second grade.

“It just seemed like it was very harsh punishment,” said Schultz, 33. “You think I’m such a menace to society because I’m smoking in a forest?”

President Biden’s decision last month to pardon thousands of people who had been convicted of marijuana possession under federal law was an acknowledgment that his administration does not see possession of cannabis, with no intent to sell or distribute, as a public safety threat. But people like Schultz, whose lone conviction has hounded her for more than a decade, represent just a sliver of those swept up in the decadeslong war on drugs. A majority of marijuana convictions have been state crimes, which Biden does not have the authority to pardon; he can only hope that governors will follow suit.

And while many advocates welcomed the presidential act of forgiveness, they say far too many people — many of them Black and Latino — are not eligible for the pardons, leaving them with minor marijuana convictions that will continue to get in the way of job prospects, educational opportunities, and financing for homes.

Kevin Munoz, a White House spokesman, said the marijuana announcement was one of the largest uses of the president’s pardon power in history, one that “will bring relief to thousands of Americans, disproportionately Black and brown, who are unfairly barred from housing, employment, and benefits.”

The highly targeted pardons fit a broader pattern for Biden when it comes to reforming America’s criminal justice system. A champion of aggressive drug laws earlier in his career, including the 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration, he has more recently embraced leniency for those convicted of minor drug offenses.

As president, he has favored taking limited steps that enact change slowly — not the kind of overhauls that some in his party believe are necessary to reverse the effect of harsh prison sentences that have disproportionately harmed minorities. (Biden has said he does not support legalizing marijuana, putting him at odds with 80 percent of selfdescribed Democrats and 68 percent of Americans, according to a Gallup Poll.)

More than 55 percent of the 7,800 citizens and legal permanent residents convicted of federal marijuana possession from 1992 to 2021 were Black or Hispanic, according to data released by the US Sentencing Commission. Most of the prosecutions for the drug have occurred in California, Arizona, and Texas. Nearly 150 people were sentenced in the federal prison system for marijuana possession in the 2021 fiscal year, while more than 1,000 offenders were sentenced for trafficking marijuana, according to the commission.

Legal permanent residents — people with green cards — were covered by the president’s pardons. But they left out many immigrants at risk of deportation because of marijuana convictions. Biden’s order failed to instruct federal immigration authorities to stop deporting immigrants for possession of pot, according to a letter sent to Biden this month by dozens of civil and immigrant rights groups.

“You rooted the Oct. 6 proclamation in the pursuit of racial equity, noting that ‘Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted at disproportionate rates,’” the groups wrote. “Yet you exclude Black and brown immigrants facing the same structural racism as U.S. citizens.”

Biden’s pardons may have helped rally Democratic supporters to the polls in the midterm elections by serving as a kind of political down payment for those who wanted the president to go much further.

Some governors took notice:

Governor Kate Brown of Oregon, a Democrat, last week announced pardons for state charges of simple marijuana possession before 2016, when marijuana was legalized in Oregon. The move affects an estimated 45,000 people, the governor’s office said.

Other Democratic governors, including in Louisiana and Minnesota, do not have the authority to issue pardons for marijuana offenses; they must go through state boards instead.

Still, Republicans have seized on the president’s decision to portray him as weak on law and order. And several Republican governors have already rejected the president’s advice. Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas accused Biden of “playing electionyear politics” with the marijuana announcement and said such pardons should be considered on a case-by-case basis “in this time of rising crime.” A spokesperson for Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said the state would not take “criminal justice advice from the leader of the defund police party.” (Biden has not supported defunding the police.)

Biden also directed federal agencies to review whether marijuana should remain classified as a Schedule 1 drug — the same legal category as heroin and LSD. Advocates argue that changing the classification could encourage lawmakers to lighten the criminal penalties for marijuana-related crimes.

Changing the classification would make it easier for legal cannabis companies to use federally chartered banks, and it would allow federal health officials to conduct research on the medical impact of marijuana.

‘[Pardons] will bring relief to thousands of Americans . . . who are unfairly barred from housing, employment, and benefits.’

KEVIN MUNOZ

White House spokesman