“We have pardoned tens of thousands of people with federal convictions for marijuana possession,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. brag Thursday. This isn’t the first time she’s offered that estimate, which she cited during an appearance in South Carolina last February and during a “roundtable conversation on marijuana reform” next month.
Where did Harris get this number? It seems to come out of nowhere. “While Harris said ‘tens of thousands’ of people have been pardoned under President Joe Biden’s October 2022 and December 2023 pardon announcements,” Marijuana moment noted in February that “the Justice Department estimates that approximately 13,000 people have received relief under executive actions.” Only a small fraction of those people have bothered (or managed) to obtain evidence of pardons: This week, the Justice Department reported that “pardon attorneys The office has issued 205 pardon certificates to people covered by Biden’s proclamation.”
In October 2022, President Joe Biden announced pardons for those convicted of possessing marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. Section 844 or D.C. Code Section 48-904.01(d)(1). The proclamation applies to “all current U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents” who “committed a simple possession offense of marijuana” on or before October 6.
According to the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC), from FY 1992 to FY 1992, approximately 7,500 citizens and 1,200 “resident/legal alien offenders” (only some of whom were eligible for pardon) were sentenced under 21 USC 844 Possession of marijuana.
This count does not include violations of DC guidelines. “We estimate that more than 6,500 people with prior federal convictions for marijuana possession and thousands more convicted under D.C. law may be eligible,” a White House official said during a press background call on the day Biden announced the pardons. Benefit from this relief.
In December 2023, Biden expanded the pardons to include those who violated two laws involving attempted possession of marijuana (21 USC 846 and DC Code Section 48-904.09) or federal regulations prohibiting possession of marijuana in certain locations (e.g. “Federal property”) is included. The announcement also extends the deadline for violations by about another year. At the time, Harris said the additional pardons would help “thousands of people.”
So how did Harris reach “tens of thousands”? Even if you include those who committed these crimes before fiscal year 1992, about 10,000 people would have to still be alive to prove Harris’s estimate correct.
The NSC has uncovered fewer than 9,000 such cases over the past three decades, and Biden’s expansion may have added thousands more. So even if you assume that the numbers are roughly the same each year over time, going back decades won’t do the trick, which we know isn’t true: the USSC count includes years with federal sentences for marijuana possession . Overall, the number of annual marijuana arrests in the 1960s and 1970s, the vast majority under state laws, was much lower than the period covered by the USSC analysis. If you go back that far, a lot of the people who were arrested on possession charges are no longer with us.
Harris’ hyperbole reflects the Biden administration’s general tendency to lie about the extent of “marijuana reform” while trying to motivate young voters whose turnout could be crucial to the president’s reelection. For example, Biden falsely claimed during his State of the Union address on March 8 that he was “expunging thousands of convictions.”
Biden’s marijuana pardon does not mean expungement, as that is not possible under current federal law. As the Justice Department points out, a pardon “does not imply an acquittal or an expulsion of a conviction.” So, too, does the White House “fact sheet” claim that Biden’s clemency “lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people who have been convicted of marijuana possession under federal and D.C. laws.” incorrect. recent claims He is “lifting[ing] For tens of thousands of Americans, there are barriers to housing, employment, small business loans and more,” a statement that combines two hyperbole.
Biden also twisted the importance of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, which he called a “landmark” achievement. The change, formally proposed by the Drug Enforcement Administration this week, would boost medical research and allow state-licensed marijuana suppliers to deduct standard business expenses when filing federal tax returns, a huge financial benefit to the marijuana industry. But otherwise federal marijuana prohibition will remain largely unchanged, which is what Biden wants.
For a man who has long been involved in the fight against drugs, who should have seen the error of his ways but still opposes legalization, appealing to voters who overwhelmingly support legalization is a tough sell. As Harris’ pardon prevarication illustrates, this kind of propaganda requires hiding the truth in ways big and small.
