RIV Capital Inc C.RIV

President Joe Biden is issuing an executive order ....

[prone]

..... pardoning all Americans who have been federally convicted of "simple possession of marijuana".

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Recent polls show that a majority of Americans believe weed should be legal.

"Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit," Mr Biden said in a statement on Thursday.

"Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities," he continued, adding that racial minorities were statistically far more likely to be jailed for cannabis.

Mr Biden, a Democrat, said he will call upon all state governors to issue their own marijuana pardons.

He is also directing the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to review how cannabis is classified under federal law.

 

"We classify marijuana at the same level as heroin - and more serious than fentanyl," said Mr Biden. "It makes no sense."

Recreational marijuana is already legal in 19 states and Washington DC. Medical use is legal in 37 states and three US territories.

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