The eleven groups want Biden to make good on his remarks, calling for 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.
According to the letter, there is a precedent for such a move, with President Gerald Ford and President Jimmy Carter both issuing general pardons in the 1970s to violators of the United States Selective Service Act for evading the Vietnam War draft.
Among the least approving of marijuana in the last Democratic presidential field, Biden tepidly endorsed decriminalization over legalization while labeling marijuana a gateway drug. However, he s since backtracked on his gateway drug comments and supported various methods of criminal justice reform. Last year, his campaign announced an intent to decriminalize marijuana use and reschedule it through executive action on the fed