Biden Loosens Up on Weed

from New York Times I'm Michael babo. this is the. [Music]. daily today in a historic decision the. Biden Administration has just. recommended loosening Federal. restrictions on marijuana that have been. on the books for. decades my colleague zolan Kano Young's. walks us through why Biden is doing this.

now and how big an impact the proposed. changes could actually. [Music]. have it's Thursday May. 2nd zolen in the US the federal. government has a legal approach to. marijuana and the states have a legal. approach to marijuana and it's been the. state that have led the way on reform on.

legalizing both medical and increasingly. recreational use of marijuana and we've. covered all that very closely on the. show but the federal government has. basically Stood Still right yeah that's. right when you look at how the federal. government treats marijuana compared to. the states the federal government kind. of has been stuck in the past year. states have really taken the lead on. sort of relaxing their stance their.

policies towards cannabis use and the. way the federal government stays stuck. in the past is essentially by. classifying marijuana as a schedule one. drug the most severe category simply. it's on the same league as heroin and. LSD the federal government basically. when it comes to schedule one substances. is saying there's no medical benefit. from these substances it's typically. come with longer sentencing strict fines.

as well and also limitations on how much. research you can do into these drugs. right so in the federal system a. schedule one drug of which marijuana is. a member is basically very bad is seen. as having no redeeming qualities and. using them is to be punished period. that's right when it comes to the. federal government this is one of the. more dangerous substances facing the. nation and then the higher the schedule.

you get basically you have more relaxed. policies and a more relaxed approach by. the federal government and what have. been the Practical impacts of marijuana. being on that schedule one list for so. long oh look I mean for decades there's. been a real human cost to this from the. 90s to even the 2000s you saw thousands. of people that were arrested charged. convicted for something that many states. consider to be legal now mhm and it goes.

beyond the criminal justice system too. having a federal conviction for drug use. on your record can impact you even when. you leave prison I've talked to people. that carry that criminal record who say. that it's impacted buying property who. say that it also impacts their. accessibility of Banks and finances so. it has impacted Americans from the. criminal justice system all the way to. the real estate market as well right all. despite growing social and political. cons especially at the state level that.

marijuana is just not the same as the. rest of those schedule one drugs it's. not the same as LSD or heroin that's. correct so with all that in mind what. has the Biden Administration just done. in the past 48 hours to change that as. many people would see it stuck in the. past approach to marijuana in the. federal legal code the Biden. Administration just took a major step in.

liberalizing the way the federal. government treats marijuana you know. look it's been a half century now that. we've had the federal government. treating marijuana as one of the more. dangerous drugs in this country and what. just happened on Tuesday is we. essentially had the Biden Administration. saying it's time to get with the times. technically what they just did is take a. step to removing marijuana from that. schedule one.

status and say that it should maybe be. placed in schedule three so basically. removing it from the group of drugs that. we associate with being some of the most. dangerous in this country and moving it. over to a category where you're. essentially saying hey there actually is. some medical benefit to this similar to. some of the medicine such as Tylenol. Codine that you might get at a pharmacy. what exactly would be different in the. federal legal system system once.

marijuana is reclassified from schedule. 1 to schedule 3 obviously it's going to. mean something different but practically. what would change yeah look it's not. like as soon as this happens that. suddenly marijuana is legalized across. the country that's not it but this is an. important step you know it comes as we. have seen local prosecutors local. officials kind of moving more in the. direction of decriminalizing marijuana. and now this is another step in that.

direction um the difference being it's a. step from the highest office in the. country essentially saying I want you to. exercise leniency when it comes to this. drug that's a message that will be. coming from the administration from the. top of the federal government out to. policy makers prosecutors basically. saying hey look the perception is. changing when it comes to the federal. government I want to seize on one of the. elements you just mentioned which is. that if prosecutors absorb this message. and in theory so with judges that this.

could pretty quickly result in reduced. Federal sentences around marijuana. related crimes that's certainly what. drug reform Advocates and criminal. justice Advocates hope for when it comes. to this and that's why they've been. pressuring the federal government to. take action like this look to be clear. there has already been momentum in some. cities where prosecutors are no longer. imposing sort of long sentences when it. comes to crimes like this but when you. talk to Advocates they say look a.

message like that coming from the. president is only likely to move other. prosecutors that have not taken that. step yet so yes they are hoping that it. continues to sort of push momentum and. relaxing the way that we punish those. who who use this substance okay where. else would we see the impact of this. right so then also in the short term you. are going to see a change in the way. medical officials can actually conduct. Research into marijuana.

as which when I talk to drug reform. Advocates say is essential if you ever. to have widespread legalization across. the country just explain that sir so. given that this substance has been in. schedule one there are those who have. said we need to learn more about. marijuana and you can only do that by. researching it but the problem is there. are these strict requirements and a. really really cumbersome approval. process for medical officials when it. comes to studying a schedule one.

substance so by removing it and moving. it to schedule 3 then you theoretically. could learn even more about the. potential side effects of marijuana. which those pushing for legalization. hope will help their future argument for. changing the way we treat this substance. right suddenly it becomes a lot more. conceivable that a thousand people in a. clinical trial would be taking marijuana. when it's no longer seen by the federal. government as a horrible danger that's. right as the same as something like.

heroin and it's not just limited to. medical research it could also impact. the business Community I've talked to. small business owners and those that own. marijuana related businesses who say. that with this change they would. actually be eligible for tax credits. that they previously were not eligible. for because of the way the federal. government classified marijuana so. there's also money to be made here I. thought it was interesting on Tuesday. when we reported this news most of. actually the reaction in my inbox.

Michael were from business heads that. were so excited about this as well as I. saw that our colleagues reported that. stocks for marijuana related companies. were soaring after this announcement too. right so you're saying the overall. impact of this reclassification change. should it happen and it sounds like it's. going to happen but it's going to take. some time is not that this is going to. change federal law around marijuana but. it will change the aura around marijuana. within the federal system and the.

pressure to punish those who violate. current federal laws around marijuana do. I have that right yeah yeah you do have. that right I mean it's important to. remember that the way that prosecutors. impose punishments for those who use. this drug the way that our Criminal. Justice System approaches those who use. this all of those are according to laws. that in in the federal government's case. it was written in. 1971 and Congress needs to change those. laws right Congress needs to change the. law that dictate sort of mandatory.

minimums and the specific details of the. sentencing that have been imposed on. those who use marijuana for decades mhm. and while this won't immediately change. everything I just described what it. could do is sort of nudge those on the. hill in Congress who do have the power. to change the laws and send a direct. message to them that the way the US. perceives this drug it's changing it's. changing now and maybe our laws should. also reflect that change got it so in.

that sense this is a bit revolutionary. this change Biden's calling for and not. all that revolutionary at the same time. because it's kind of limited in its. approach as you say it's a very big loud. nudge and my question is why is Biden. doing this now and why is this the. approach that he's taking and perhaps.

not something sweeper I mean why. now we're in the midst of a presidential. election simple as that and why this way. that's because President Biden has a. very long complicated history when it. comes to criminal justice. policy we'll be right back.

Z before the break you mentioned Biden's. long complicated relationship with. criminal justice and I want you to. situate this plan for declassifying. marijuana from schedule one schedule 3. within that. Journey yeah so this dates back to Joe. Biden's early days as a senator Mr. President you know let's go back to the.

'90s we'll decide whether or not we will. respond to the cries and needs of the. American people who literally are living. in fear the rampant crime and drug abuse. the UN even then Senator Biden is really. you know supporting and and pushing. through tough on crime policies there. are over 3 million heroin or cocaine. addicts in the United States today and. more heroin and cocaine enters this. country today than ever before before.

this all came to a head in 1994 when Joe. Biden very much became the face of a. crime Bill and look this legislation had. a lot of elements in it but also experts. have said it's the reason behind tough. punishments and sentencing for those. that committed non-violent drug crimes. as well the average heroin addict I. might point out commits 200 crimes a. year to support his. habit 200 times a year a heroin addict. so while at that time it might have been.

more politically advantageous to go and. push something like the 94 crime Bill. fast forward to Joe Biden running for. president in 2020 and what was once a. kind of signature proud part of his. legislative background has now become a. political. liability and just remind us why sure so. you basically at that point have more. attention on the number of people arrest. for nonviolent crimes convicted for.

low-level drug crimes as well and also. at this point in the 2020 election. Michael you do have a lot of momentum. behind reforming police departments. behind prison reform you know you have a. powerful Progressive flank of the. democratic party that is pushing for. systemic change in the way our criminal. justice system works right and often. when they ask for an example of of how. it's not supposed to work and what.

actually fueled these types of. incarceration levels while it's the. legislation in Joe Biden's background. that comes up right which created a. major political headache for him in that. 2020 presidential race exactly well I. have an announcement to make to the. point where he even expresses regret I. haven't always been right I know we. haven't always gotten things right but. I've always tried. and you know while still saying there.

are aspects of that legislation that he. is still proud of that they did get some. things wrong particularly looking at. sort of the way that they had those. mandatory minimums for drug crimes. especially it was a big mistake when it. was made we thought we were told by the. experts that crack you never go back it. was somehow fundamentally it's not. different but it's trapped an entire. generation so by the end of the campaign. now we've got Joe Biden trying to strike.

the balance not just talking about sort. of tough on crime policies but also. talking about Criminal Justice Reform. making also campaign promises when it. comes to Criminal Justice Reform that. ranges from reviewing the way the nation. sort of approaches certain drugs to. reviewing the death penalty as well and. also promising to exercise his ability. to issue clemency so you've got these. campaign promises while he's coming into. office but almost immediately mediately. you start to see certain signs that the.

political sort of momentum may be. shifting away from Criminal Justice. Reform and a little bit more to pushing. Democrats like Joe Biden to sort of show. once again that tough on crime message H. such as what one early example shortly. after President Biden comes into office. it was reported that some staffers that. campaigned for him and look forward to. joining the administration actually uh. were not going to be hired and that they.

were losing their jobs and that's. because of past marijuana use huh so. that was sort of an early sign that. caused some real anxiety amongst some. criminal justice Advocates that some of. the other promises he made when it came. to drug policy reform you know would. they drag their feet on it what kind of. message would they send on it and what. ended up happening on that front so what. we start to see are some small steps. towards some of these commitments I. remember early in President Biden's term.

he had what was uh sort of advertised as. this sweeping pardon announcement where. he would be issuing essentially a. presidential Act of forgiveness for. thousands of people that had been. convicted for possession of marijuana. federally right it was celebrated. criminal justice Advocates are. applauding him I spent a couple days. actually digging deeper into the numbers. on that announcement and reporting a bit. more on it and I found that when you. think of the person that's in prison.

serving years for marijuana charge. that's likely going to be a State. Crime also this initial announcement. impacted possession but not exactly. selling the drug all that to say there. were actually minimal people in federal. prison for a marijuana crime that he had. just issued forgiveness on so this ended. up being a largely symbolic forgiveness. rather than one that truly change. people's lives it was a step toward.

changing the perception but when you. look at the broad problem of the way. that we prosecute those who use. marijuana it impacted essentially a. sliver of those people okay so given. this mixed record overall when it comes. to Biden as actual drug policy reformer. in the White House what's your. understanding of what gets him to where.

we are right now to changing his mind on. this very big subject of marijuana as. not a schedule one drug but a schedule. three drug arguably the biggest move. he's made since taking office well I. think the reality on the ground when it. comes to marijuana is changing we've had. more reports that do support that. there's a medical benefit to marijuana. use also public sentiment around this. this drug has changed uh I saw a polling.

that showed that in 2013 around roughly. 50% of Americans supported relaxing laws. against marijuana that's jumped to 70%. recently too well you know there's more. Democrats as well as Republicans that. are also supporting relaxing our. approach to marijuana right so it's no. longer just sort of a you know talking. point of sort of the progressive flank. of the democratic party but this is. actually becoming a very. popular policy proposal across the.

country and once again you have Joe. Biden trying to put his finger on the. pulse of the country and try to get. basically catch up to where most. Americans are at right and as you said. earlier it is a re-election year that's. right it's also a reelection year so. I've been reporting on this now for some. months this Administration is in a tough. spot specifically with young voters. Michael and has been searching for. different policy actions they can take.

including at times without the help of. Congress to sort of energize that group. of young voters think about student loan. forgiveness I know that we've talked. about that often this is another action. that the administration can at least. take a step on a nudge to sort of give a. nod to those young voters throughout the. country and sort of energize them as we. look towards this election got it so a. reality of this decision is that it is. designed to appeal to the kind of Young.

Americans who are skeptical P after poll. shows of Joe Biden who are enthusiastic. about the legalization of marijuana and. would welcome hearing that President. Biden someone not from their generation. is starting to see this issue the way. they do yeah that's right and I mean I. have to say like again this stuff isn't. easy there's a risk even to the politics. of this as well. Joe Biden in a way throughout his time.

in office has come in proposing massive. policy changes sprawling legislation as. well and at times he struggled with this. slim majority in Congress to actually. Implement those policies so now you have. a major step in this process that could. energize young voters but you also have. the prospect can they actually get it. done before the election can you. actually deliver on this proposal. or are you once again setting high.

expectations only to become a victim of. those high. expectations and yet if we're being. honest as high as expectations may end. up being around this it's still very. much in keeping with Biden's history of. fairly slow moving change when it comes. to Criminal Justice Reform and drug. policy as we have talked about in this. conversation a few times this is not.

legalization this is something grayer in. its approach and therefore entirely in. keeping with the way Biden has. approached this kind of an issue his. entire career yeah that's right I mean. this is an institutionalist this is. somebody who is believes in sort of the. incremental progress that can come about. from working within a system even this. process of reclassification is a good. example of what we're talking about to.

be clear it's going to move slowly this. is going to involve different federal. agencies seeking approval for one. another to research marijuana they're. each going to do their own reviews the. justice department will have hearings. where people will present findings on. marijuana there will be a public comment. period as well on this and as. frustrating of a pace as that might be. to those who are looking for for big. changes when it comes to drug policy in. America this is exactly the pace that.

Joe Biden likes I mean this is the pace. of an institutionalist seeking to take. incremental steps while working within. the system with the hopes of coming to a. decision that could change the lives of. Americans across the country so this. pace and this process vary Joe Biden. right well given everything you've laid. out about Biden about the way he thinks. about criminal justice and drug policy. I'm curious if you think there is a. world where he ever uses the federal.

government to try to legalize marijuana. a decision that in theory could flow. over time from what he has just. initiated the changing of the. classification of pod do you ever think. that he would let that happen under his. watch it's just so hard for me to. imagine you know President Biden going. up to the Lecter and centering a speech. around legalizing marijuana this is. somebody who has been sort of personally.

reluctant when it comes to these reforms. around. marijuana I think what's realistic is he. is going to allow these government. agencies to go through a very lengthy. and slow process in order to sort of get. to a decision here but just given the. Joe Biden we know somebody who is still. more likely to tout his Law and Order. bonafides and support for the police. over any sort of massive Progressive.

change when it comes to the criminal. justice system it's hard to believe that. you are going to see him becoming the. face of a decision to legalize. marijuana well Zen thank you very much. we appreciate it thank you. [Music]. Michael we'll be right back.

here's what else you need to know to day. Arizona's Republican controlled Senate. has voted to repeal a ban on nearly all. abortions that was set to take effect. later this summer the ban was based on a. civil war AA law that the state's. Supreme Court found could be enforced. now that Row versus Wade has been. overturned. the repeal already adopted by the.

Arizona house was passed with the. support of every Democratic state. senator and two Republicans who broke. ranks with their party Arizona's. Democratic governor is now expected to. sign the repal blocking the abortion ban. from ever going into effect and Mike. Johnson is not capable of that job he. has proven it over and over again on. Wednesday representative Marjorie Taylor. green of Georgia a far-right Republican. said she would demand a vote next week.

to remove speaker Mike Johnson from his. job the move green said was punishment. for Johnson's decision to rely on. Democrats to pass several major pieces. of recent legislation including military. aid to Ukraine which green strongly. opposes but her plan is all but certain. to fail house Democratic leaders who are. grateful to Johnson for passing the aid. to Ukraine. have said they will vote to block the.

effort to remove him their support. combined with moderate House Republicans. backing Johnson would kill Green's Plan. before it ever reaches the house floor I. think every member of Congress needs to. take that vote and let the chips fall. where they may during a news conference. in front of the capital green said she. relished the chance to force members of. both parties especially Democrats to go. on the record endorsing Johnson as.

Speaker I can't wait to see Democrats go. out and support a republican speaker and. have to go home to their primaries and. have to run for Congress again having. supported a republican speaker a. Christian conservative I think that'll. play well I'm excited about. it today's episode was produced by m z. Alex Stern and Shannon Lynn it was. edited by Patricia willins contains. original music by Alicia but and Dan pal.

and was engineered by Chris Wood our. theme music is by Jim brunberg and Ben. lurk of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael mbaro see you tomorrow. [Music].