End Federal Weed Ban, NJ Sen. Cory Booker Tells President Joe Biden

WASHINGTON — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker joined five other Senate Democrats in calling for President Joe Biden's administration to pick up the pace in ending the federal ban on weed. The lawmakers renewed requests Wednesday for the administration to pardon everyone convicted of non-violent cannabis offenses and begin the process of de-scheduling its classification as a Schedule I drug.

Booker was among the Senate Democrats who sent a letter with the requests for President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The letter's other signees included Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Bernie Sanders (Vermont), Ron Wyden (Oregon), Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (both representing Massachusetts).

"The Administration’s failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research, and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes. We ask that the Biden Administration act quickly to rectify this decade long injustice harming individuals, especially Black and Brown communities," the letter states.

When both ran for president in 2019, Booker called Biden "an architect of mass incarceration," referring to the 1994 crime bill Biden championed as a senator. Biden fired back and claimed that as mayor of Newark, Booker's "police department was stopping and frisking people — mostly African-American men."

Booker endorsed Biden for president in March 2020 — two months after the senator dropped out of the race.

Last October, the six Democratic senators wrote to the Department of Justice and called on the administration to begin the de-scheduling process for cannabis. Congress placed weed into Schedule I — the most tightly restricted category for drugs that have "no currently accepted medical use" — in 1970. But several medical and therapeutic benefits of cannabis have become more widespread in the United States since.

The DOJ and Drug Enforcement Administration responded to the senators' request April 13, stating the Biden administration would begin the de-scheduling process for cannabis. But the senators found the half-page response, which took six months, "extremely disappointing," as it asserted the HHS's determination that "cannabis has not been proven in scientific studies to be a safe and effective treatment for any disease or condition."

In Wednesday's letter, the senators said that the federal agencies can begin the de-scheduling process and act without an HHS determination. The lawmakers claim that the attorney general must de-schedule a drug if the HHS says to do so. But if the HHS secretary recommends keeping it in the same schedule or moving it to a different schedule, the recommendation is non-binding and the attorney general can still choose to begin the process of de-scheduling or rescheduling a drug.

"Put simply, the DOJ need not wait on any HHS determination to begin the process," the letter says.

Booker and the Democratic senators commended President Biden's pardons and commutations of 78 people, including nine people with non-violent cannabis convictions, in April. But the lawmakers renewed calls for President Biden to pardon all people convicted on non-violent cannabis offenses. (The president can issue pardons for federal offenses but can't apply them to state or local convictions.)

The letter cites a report from the American Civil Liberties Union that examines cannabis arrests across the nation from 2010-18. The report states that Black people are nearly four times more likely to get arrested for cannabis possession than all others nationally, while the statistic jumps to almost 10 times in some states — despite comparable usage rates across all races.

In New Jersey, Black people were 3.45 times more likely to get arrested for cannabis possession than white people from 2010-18, according to the ACLU.

Booker and the Senate Democrats called on President Biden to issue the pardons Nov. 9, but they said Wednesday that they haven't received a response to that letter.

The senator has supported ending the federal ban on weed for several years. In August 2017, Booker introduced a bill that would have removed cannabis from Schedule I and eliminated penalties for many weed-related crimes. Booker has put forward similar bills since.

The House of Representatives has passed legislation twice to end the federal cannabis ban, but the Senate hasn't acted.

Read the full letter here.