Last week, President Joe Biden made the sweeping proclamation that he was pardoning all Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana at the federal level.
But while that was certainly a welcome gesture by advocates of full nationwide marijuana legalization, it appears it won’t actually free that many inmates sitting in jail because they were caught with pot.
About 6,500 prisoners will be set free by the federal pardons, but legal experts have noted that that total is just a small fraction of the number behind bars for simple possession offenses because the vast majority are being held on state charges.
Government data from 2018 alone shows just one year’s worth of state-based marijuana possession convictions tallies over 700,000 sentences.
Additionally, Biden’s pardoning power does not extend to non-residents in American prisons. In 2021, 72% of individuals arrested for marijuana possession were non-citizens, according to data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
So while Biden may have done as much as was in his power to do, in this case his power doesn’t extend all that far and certainly doesn’t exonerate nearly as many people as marijuana legalization would.
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