Biden includes marijuana reform in MLK Day speech on equality

President Joe Biden celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a speech on equality, civil rights and more. He made it clear that marijuana reform is part of his plan and a necessary step to have “equal rights.”

Biden spoke at the national annual MLK breakfast hosted by the National Action Network (NAN). He was introduced by Reverend Al Sharpton.

“I’m keeping my promise,” Biden said. “No one – I repeat – no one should be in federal prison for the mere possession of marijuana. No one.”

In addition to decriminalizing marijuana, Biden also emphasized deleting the records of people jailed for cannabis possession. “Furthermore, they should be released from prison and given a full pardon and their entire record wiped out so that if they have to ask, ‘Have you ever been? [convicted]you can honestly say ‘no’.”

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Back in October, Biden issued marijuana pardons that became one of the biggest advances for marijuana reform and legislation. Despite their unprecedented existence and the fact that he has encouraged governors and other heads of state to follow in his footsteps, those pardons are still not enough to erase the records of many people jailed for marijuana possession.

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Following the pardons, many advocacy groups called for these benefits to be expanded in hopes that they would reach more people and protect them from further marijuana-related crimes. In November, over 130 advocacy groups came together to urge Biden to expand those benefits and include immigrants.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​” “Specifically, we urge you to extend protections to all immigrants, regardless of immigration status, and to take the necessary steps to ensure that immigrants do not suffer negative immigration consequences as a result of marijuana convictions .”

For now, Biden’s pardon only extends to US citizens and citizens charged with simple possession convictions. Those accused of selling cannabis do not fall on this spectrum.