President Joseph Biden recently announced mass pardons for people convicted in federal courts on minor marijuana possession charges. While making that announcement, he called on governors across the nation to emulate the federal action and replicate the clemency at state level. His call to action has elicited mixed reactions, and we capture the highlights below.
Colorado governor Jared Polis revealed that the U.S. president had finally decided to walk the road that Colorado took two years earlier. He said that the action taken by the president would remove any roadblocks that were in the lives of the people affected by the discriminative implementation of prohibition laws.
Ned Lamont, the governor of Connecticut, was also pleased by the announcement, calling for expunging records and pardoning those in state jails for possessing small amounts of cannabis. Lamont sees the federal action as long overdue. He reaffirmed his belief that the law he enacted to automatically erase the criminal records of people blighted by minor marijuana offenses was the right thing to do.
Nikki Fried, who made an unsuccessful bid to win the gubernatorial race nomination in Florida and a long-term avid supporter of drug-policy reform, called on Governor Ron DeSantis to follow in President Biden’s footsteps and clear criminal records and support the rebuilding of the lives of people hurt by the futile war on drugs.
In Georgia, Stacey Abrams, a DP nominee for the gubernatorial race, applauded the action taken by the president and vowed to see to it that marijuana is decriminalized and those with criminal records on minor charges have those records expunged by the state.
However, not everyone sees sunshine and roses in the call made by the president. For example, Brad Little, the governor of Idaho, made a scathing attack against the marijuana announcements made by Biden. Little called the action something calculated “for show” and added that it appeared Biden didn’t know that those in jail on cannabis offenses invariably have other charges successfully prosecuted against them as well.
According to a spokesperson, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has no intention to heed Biden’s call and grant blanket clemency to marijuana convicts or expunge records of ex-convicts.
Generally, there is a clear divide with Democratic governors supporting the president’s call while Republican governors are opposed to taking this social-justice step. It is only Republican governors in states with legal marijuana markets that see merit in expunging records and pardoning those in jail on simple possession charges.
It remains to be seen how those who follow the lead of Biden will follow that up with further reforms that ease the environment in which cannabis companies such as Flora Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: FLGC) operate.
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