Biden Executive Order Pardons Minor Marijuana Offenders

On Thursday (Oct 6th), President Biden signed an executive order pardoning those serving jail time for marijuana possession charges.

Accompanying the order was a tweet authored by the president, in which he stated, “Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives—for conduct that is legal in many states.”

Though the idea certainly has been in the air for many a news cycle at this point, the order still came as a surprise to many.

As always, federal action on this scale tends to have ripple effects—intentional or otherwise—which the Biden administration is working to control by requesting that the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General revisit the scheduling (i.e., legal classification) of marijuana, according to this U.S. Hemp Roundtable post on the order.

The future of hemp is certainly included in the areas that could potentially be affected by the ripples following this landmark executive order.

As the Roundtable puts it, “Rescheduling cannabis could impact federal and state treatment of hemp.”

And speaking of “state treatment,” the Biden administration is encouraging state governors to follow suit with this decision, as there are more people incarcerated for marijuana possession due to state regulations.

As usual, we will closely monitor this situation in cohesion with our fellow hemp and marijuana industry watchdogs, updating you on any major developments therein.