As lawmakers push the White House to clarify its marijuana stance, the DOJ is speaking up
After a Congressman yesterday pressed the White House for its inaction on marijuana rescheduling, President Joe Biden’s attorney general says the Department of Justice (DOJ) is “still working” on the federal marijuana policy approach. Several important pieces of Congress have called for Biden administration officials to start working on the promises the POTUS made some time ago.
Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, said the DOJ is still working on the cannabis policy issue and that federal health department officials are conducting a more thorough ongoing analysis of the status of the federal cannabis classification that was directed by Biden. “I think it’s fair to expect that what I said in my confirmation hearing with respect to marijuana and policy is very similar to what was done in the Cole Memo,” he said, referring to a policy when Barak Obama was in office.
Referring to the cannabis policy review, Garland said certain details have yet to be finalized, adding that the agency’s priority now is on finalizing a memorandum on crack cocaine prosecutions. The attorney general’s comments were prompted by doubts expressed by Senator Cory Booker during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Garland claims to be very anxious to hear more about “the administration’s marijuana plan as “more and more states, red and blue, are moving” to change their marijuana laws.
On the other hand, Garland also wanted to focus on the pardons Biden granted to people who have committed cannabis possession offenses. He said that process “is still moving through the system to get the final certificates” so that people can prove they received presidential relief.