President Joe Biden now supports decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level and legalizing marijuana for medical use, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday.
“The President supports leaving decisions regarding legalization for recreational use up to the states, rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule 2 drug so researchers can study its positive and negative impacts,” Psaki said in response to a question from Fox News’ Kristin Fischer on the subject. “At the federal level, he supports decriminalizing marijuana use and automatically expunging any prior criminal records. He also supports legalizing medicinal marijuana.” (RELATED: Willie Nelson Calls On Biden To Make April 20 To April 29 The ‘High Holidays’)
Later in the briefing, Psaki clarified that Biden will not support full, federal legalization until researchers can conduct additional studies regarding marijuana’s positive and negative impacts.
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Biden stood alone among the top tier 2020 Democratic presidential candidates in opposing federal legalization of marijuana. Vice President Kamala Harris’ own campaign criminal justice reform plan focused heavily on full federal legalization.
Furthermore, the White House drew fire after apparently reversing a stated policy on staffers’ past marijuana use. Despite informing prospective hires that “applicants with limited marijuana use [would] not be barred from” serving in the administration, the White House asked multiple staffers already working in the administration to resign after they admitted to limited marijuana use in the past.
Polling indicates that public support for marijuana legalization in all demographics is at an all-time high.
You can watch Tuesday’s entire briefing here.
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