“I think we should decriminalize marijuana, period. And I think everyone — anyone who has a record — should be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out," Senator Joe Biden said during a Democratic primary debate in November 2019.
That represented a big move from Biden's much less weed-welcoming stance in previous years, and now some of America's largest marijuana trade and advocacy groups are calling on President Biden to make good on his campaign statement. In a public letter addressed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Minority Cannabis Business Association, National Cannabis Industry Association and the newly formed United States Cannabis Coalition, among others, call on the president to "immediately" issue a general pardon for all former nonviolent federal marijuana offenders, and free anyone federally incarcerated for nonviolent, marijuana-only offenses in states where their former pot crimes are now legal.