“This is another very vivid example of the clash between outdated policies from the past and where America is and where America is going,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Capitol Hill’s unofficial weed tsar, said in an interview. “It’s probably not surprising.”
Blumenauer is already compiling a letter with other lawmakers who want the Biden government’s explanation for the layoffs.
Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have shifted their stance on cannabis legalization in recent years. But Biden – who as a senator passed the 1994 crime bill that hit communities of color excessively and set mandatory minimum sentences for possession of marijuana – has never really gotten excited about the idea. As recently as last year, Biden staff rejected the legalization of marijuana as part of the Democratic Party’s policy platform. It was a step backwards from 2016, when the party made history by endorsing a ‘path’ to legalization.
“They did not support the dissolution and legalization,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, who worked with the Biden campaign on the Democratic Party platform last summer. She requested a meeting with the administration to discuss cannabis policy, including the latest staff riots. In an interview, she added that the recent actions of the White House did not surprise her. “What it shows is the impact of those laws.”
Instead of endorsing the full legalization, Biden’s campaign has proposed a patchwork of changes to the federal drug law that will legalize, decriminalize and continue to ban cannabis in a variety of ways that experts say are difficult to implement.
“His approach is very blunt,” said John Hudak, an expert on cannabis policy and executive at the Brookings Institution. “It’s hard to see how it plays out.”
The White House’s decision to fire or punish employees for marijuana shows the gap between Biden’s government and the majority of his party, who increasingly see decriminalization or legalization as a major issue of criminal law reform.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki underestimated the Daily Beast report in a few tweets on Friday, saying the security investigations would not “automatically” disqualifies a postal candidate who has used marijuana.
“The bottom line is that of the hundreds of people hired, only five who started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.” she added.
Almost all of Biden’s rivals in the 2020 Democratic presidential election have issued full-fledged endorsements of federal marijuana law. And two years ago, Harris, then a California senator, joked for the White House himself about smoking pot.
“I did … and I inhaled,” she told the hosts The breakfast club about smoking at university. “It was a long time ago … I think it gives a lot of people joy and we need more joy.”
At the debate stage, Biden’s primary opponents brought him into play for his unwillingness to legalize marijuana. Criminal law advocates blame the harsh drug laws introduced by Biden and other lawmakers in the 1990s for locking people up for excessive marijuana offenses. But Biden planted himself and suggested that marijuana is a gateway, which drew criticism from him led him to reverse the statement.
He also later said he did not think people should be locked up for marijuana, and that he wanted to see marijuana records removed – a departure from the senator who opposed Republican President George HW Bush’s anti-drug plan. criticized because he was not far enough.
“We must work together to ensure that drug dealers are punished quickly, safely and severely … we must hold every drug user accountable,” Biden said at the time.
Now a third of Americans live in a state where marijuana is legal and the majority supports full legalization, including 83 percent of Democrats. Congress also tends to do so: the House passed a bill to legalize marijuana in December, and the Senate plans to follow suit soon. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer himself is drafting a new legislative bill and has previously promised that legalization would be a priority if Democrats lead the chamber.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) And Schumer have a comprehensive approach to the cannabis reform, while Biden’s strategy, according to Hudak, ‘is public policy with a scalpel rather than a battle ax’.
During the campaign, Biden traced his support for the decriminalization of marijuana and the shift of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II. Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, the most restrictive category next to heroin and LSD.
But his proposal suggests that federal drug laws are unfamiliar. Lawyers, state doctor regulators and cannabis advocates have expressed confusion over his support for decriminalization and the rescheduling of marijuana. Cocaine and methamphetamine are Schedule II substances and are still widely criminalized. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to achieve.
As a party nominee, Biden had new opportunities to take a more progressive stance on legalization, but dug into his heels. His attempt to bring in the party’s progressive wing through the task force “unity” with Bernie Sanders has compromised on policy areas such as climate change, immigration and economic policy – but not on marijuana. The only concession Sanders appoints for weed policy was to remove a budget rider that prevents Washington DC from regulating marijuana sales. Even some of Biden’s nominees have failed to advance the cause.
As leader of the Democratic Party, Biden’s attitude has had ripple effects. The party rejects an amendment to support legalization as an official policy plan, but adopts a platform that supports decriminalization and deletion that reflects Biden’s position on the issue.
Harris also changed her rhetoric once she accepted the Democratic nomination as Biden’s no. 2 accepted. The legislature that sponsored comprehensive legislation in the Senate in 2019 has suddenly moved to the eradication of cannabis rather than legalization.
But Biden can join his fellow Democrats in time, Brookings’ Hudak said.
“We should not put together a president who … is not a great cannabis reformer, with a president who has not changed his mind over time,” he said. ‘Biden is not the place where many cannabis reformers want him to be. But he’s not the 1988 or 1994 Joe Biden. ”