Joe Biden “I know a lot of weed smokers”- Biden’s Stance on Cannabis Thus Far

On April 25th 2019, U.S. former Vice President Joe Biden disclosed that he was running for the presidency. But before casting your vote on Biden, you may be interested in knowing his stance on the legalization of marijuana.

Biden stated that he knows many weed smokers and appeared to propose that these smokers have given him personal proof which, further influences his opposition to the legalization of marijuana.

However, the democrat was quoted on the radio show Power 105 The Breakfast Club interview saying that it makes no sense for one to be jailed on committing a drug crime, including cannabis-related crimes. This statement led to the questioning of his understanding of the difference between legalizing possession of marijuana, which he proposes, and broader legalization, which he opposes.

Most Democratic voters like the policy of the broader legalization of marijuana. Instead of reviewing the distinction between the two policies, the former Vice President clarified his opposition to this policy. Biden seemed to feel that cannabis consumption has adverse effects on the people, which was his basis for the opposition.

Matthew Schweich, a deputy director at The Marijuana Policy Project, said that neither Trump nor Biden had suggested a federal policy on marijuana that most U.S. citizens would love. He further stressed that individual experiences should not govern executive rulings as they affect millions of American lives.

It is yet to be clear that Biden shares the same analogy with Jeff Sessions, a former attorney general, that marijuana consumers are villains. But what unfolds is that Biden’s previous experience with cannabis consumers can not push him to advocate for law amendments that would make it legal for them to buy marijuana from licensed stores and not from unregulated markets.

Biden proposes that simple legitimization, releasing those convicted due to cannabis-related crimes, legalizing medical marijuana, allowing states to make their cannabis policies and federal rescheduling.

Eric Altieri, an executive director at NORML, seems to differ with the former Vice President’s ideologies. A statement that he sent to Marijuana Moment emphasized that more than 600,000 people (mostly brown and black Americans) are arrested annually for simple possession of marijuana. He further claimed that Biden was behind the many laws which caused mass imprisonment and drug wars. Altieri urged Biden to stop regularly denying today’s scientific and moral reality. 

He supports the idea of giving people a chance through rehabilitating marijuana consumers instead of jailing them because the former is less costly.

Regardless of the massive popularity of legalization of marijuana and the developing state-level movement for reform, currently, Biden seems to lack plans to progress his position on this issue. Advocates of the candidate can perhaps hope that the criminal justice task force launched in partnership with Bernie Sanders will go about cannabis policy, or Biden would regard a recommendation pushing for the legalization of marijuana.