President Joe Biden recently announced that he plans to pardon those convicted of marijuana-related crimes that are no longer illegal under current federal law. He made the announcement as part of his 2020 presidential campaign platform but is only now acting on it. Despite questionable intentions, the move has inspired other states to follow suit. Florida has taken steps toward decriminalizing cannabis in recent years, but because some offenses were still considered felonies, thousands of people could still be subject to prison time or fines if they were caught with marijuana at any point during their lives.
Now lawmakers in Florida are working on a bill that would pardon anyone convicted of these crimes retroactively—meaning anyone currently serving time for them would be eligible for release from prison, and those who already paid fines could get them refunded.
Biden’s Pardon
On October 8th, 2022, President Joe Biden announced a pardon for individuals who had been charged with simple possession of marijuana on a federal level. The announcement was made in a press release that stated the pardon would be granted to approximately 6500 individuals, according to a White House estimate.
The pardon will not apply to those who were convicted of the sale or trafficking of marijuana. It also does not apply to individuals who have been convicted of these offenses on state charges—which could be up to 4 million people nationwide.
To put that into perspective, the state of Florida has seen an increase in cannabis arrests over the last few years. The latest statistics show that 45,000 arrests were made statewide for misdemeanor possession, while felony arrests increased to 11,752 in 2018 alone.
Luckily, politicians are taking charge and actively working to build off of Biden’s pardon.
Clemency For Floridians
Florida’s agriculture commissioner and a state senator are calling on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to follow President Joe Biden’s lead and pardon the Floridians who have been unjustly arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated over cannabis.
Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried implored the governor to use his authority to put cannabis pardons on the agenda for the next State Board of Executive Clemency meeting on December 14th. Fried serves as a member of the clemency board as well.
Fried has been especially outspoken about the urgency of facilitating relief in the state, advocating for the rights of cannabis users since her time in office.
Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) is separately urging the governor to take steps to grant clemency to Floridians who’ve been criminalized over cannabis. Floridians are tired of unjust cannabis laws, and their representatives are taking action to realize that.
So, what do we make of this? Well, it’s pretty clear that DeSantis needs to make some moves. He can’t afford to be in a position where he’s being out-flanked by his opponent. If Florida is going to start pardoning people en masse, DeSantis needs to be on top of that from the get-go. In fact, he should be doing it already.
Florida has already been through a lot of political turmoil over the past few years—they deserve better than this. I think we can all agree: Florida deserves better!
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