• It’s definitely not zero impact. Any felony convictions stick around for a long time on background checks and weigh down people’s prospects in careers, housing, and any number of other realms of life. Also, states often follow the federal government’s lead, like we saw with the 90’s crime bill and 3 strikes laws. But yes, realistically this should just be seen as a mainly symbolic first step rather than as a fundamental change in itself.

        It’s also important to note that it’s difficult to undo these policies. First, pardons have to be applied carefully. There are cases where people got out of a more serious charge by pleading down to simple possession. There will need to be a case-by-case review. The other is that Biden is not a dictator. He is bound by Congress, which currently is resisting efforts to reschedule marijuana. The politics of this is complex. The majority of the populace wants legalization, but political distortions built into the US’s political system are preventing that change from going into effect.

        • But yes, realistically this should just be seen as a mainly symbolic first step rather than as a fundamental change in itself.

          More like platitudes to get more votes from the uninforned

          • Perhaps, but the discussion I’m currently seeing on Reddit shows that people are aware that ultimately it’s up to the states to make meaningful changes on the number of people incarcerated for marijuana possession, as well as other progress on marijuana policy. Biden’s banking on it to a certain extent, since it brings up a winning issue in a number of close races. This is an issue where the Republican party has lagged behind even their own voters, so it gives the Democrats some advantage.

  • Reposting from another post about the same thing in hopes to get morediscussion

    If he really gave a shit he would decriminalize all drugs. There’s very few people charged federally for weed possession which makes this whole thing a joke. He doesn’t actually give a shit about these people he just wants the good publicity this will somehow bring. Disgusting.

    Oh and disband the DEA while you’re at it. Those people are fucking terrible.

      • Yeah, especially give the dismal state of public defenders. A justice system cannot be truly just if the defense for poor people barely exists and the defense for rich people can spend oodles of time mounting a full fledged defense.

          • The SCOTUS decision that established the requirements for public defenders, Gideon v. Wainwright, was part of the Warren Court. That era in Supreme Court history brought US law forward by leaps and bounds in ways that people now don’t fully appreciate. The government had a lot more leeway to abuse citizens before then. Unfortunately, the current conservative court is largely a reaction to those “activist judges” and seeks to reverse the progress of that era. Good if you’re a business owner, Christian, non-LGBTQ+, or white. Bad otherwise.

      • Is there any reason why a president couldn’t decriminalize all drug possession with an executive order? The drug scheduling system is a complete joke. Especially since its become ever moreapparentl that schedule 1 drugs ‘with no medicinal value’ are actually shown to have much more value than current drugs being prescribed for pain management and mental health.