THE OVAL OFFICE IS MOVING FORWARD IN DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA
As part of President Biden’s promise in his 2020 campaign, the President announces that he will pardon all Americans who’ve been convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law.
PNC’s Althea Engman has more.
In a video, President Biden announced his three-step plan to end the negative approach to marijuana.
Biden said, ” First, I’m announcing a pardon for all prior federal offenses for the simple possession of marijuana.”
He added, ” Second, I’m calling on governors to do the same for state marijuana possession offenses. Third, the federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance the same as heroin and LSD and more serious than fentanyl, it makes no sense.”
As ABC News previously reported, the executive action will benefit 6,500 people with federal convictions from 1992 to 2021 and thousands of others charged under the District of Columbia’s criminal code, according to senior administration officials.
Bringing it to Guam, Senator Clynt Ridgell said that this step in the legalization coincides with the governor’s future plans.
He said, ” I think it’s great, it coincides perfectly with what Governor Lou Leon Guerrero was planning on doing locally here on Guam back in April of this year, she announced that she would be taking a look at pardoning the possession of marijuana.”
Additionally, he shared that he sees that there is support from both the republican and democratic parties and that for the longest time the question has been what the President thinks about it.
Senator Ridgell said, “Now, the president is saying what he thinks about it by saying that he is going to pardon those with possession and that he’s instructed the people under him to begin looking at how to de-schedule it.
Moreover, although The Guam Cannabis Industry Act has made it possible for the Cannabis Control Board to accept and process applications to operate cannabis establishments, Ridgell has noted that there are no banks on the island for cannabis-based businesses to use for their commercial account, but he believes that if marijuana is legalized federally then the issues with financial institutions will be easier to handle and eventually open more doors for the cannabis industry.
