Hello.

I've got a question, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it. This is my new series where I do that.

Is it a series? Can you call it a series? I've done it twice now.

March 7th, pm, I believe during the State of the Union, Joe Biden tweets: "No one." with the following image. "No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana. - President Joe Biden. 47 thousand likes, people agree with this one. I agree with this one. I'll also like it.

With 185 thousand likes, a quote tweet of that tweet with a screenshot of different tweet that says "Biden is always tweeting shit like 'who the hell is the president I'd like to have a word with him'". That tweet has 378 thousand likes. It's confusing.

There's tweets on the tweets. There's - it's a quote tweet of a - it's a tweeted quote tweet - it's a tweet that was quote tweeted with a tweet. Look, in the future I hope no one understands any of what we're talking about.

So the question I have is, has Joe Biden done anything for people who did marijuana crimes? I've done marijuana crimes. Not recently, cuz it's legal now.

This person said "He did pardon thousands of people who violated marijuana law but go off". And that's got 12 likes. And there's a response to that with two thousand that says "Biden's marijuana pardons did not free a single federal prisoner or deliver the expungement he promised".

How do we even start? We start with: what did Biden promise? "U. S. President Joe Biden stated on February 2021 that his administration will pursue cannabis decriminalization as well as seek expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions".

I think expungement - like pardon is where you've convicted the crime and they're like you don't have to be in jail anymore. Expungement is when like, your record is clear.

So you did the crime but we've decided that since it's no longer a crime, it shouldn't be on your record and it shouldn't be harder to get a job. Let's get to the bottom of it. I'm fairly confused, having looked at this just a little bit.

So, the thing he said originally is "No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana". So is anyone jailed for using or possessing marijuana. There's a bunch of different claims.

This is the thing about Twitter fights, no one's ever talking about the same thing. So we have to get together the things that we're talking about.

Fucking Sheets. We're gonna do a spreadsheet, everybody.

So.

Expungement. Pardon.

Jailed for possession. Has anyone been freed. So these are the claims I've seen so far made.

So what Joe Biden said was no one should be jailed for using marijuana. What this person said is Biden's marijuana pardons did not free a single federal prisoner or deliver the expungements he promised. Fact-

Check: Expunged 'Thousands of Convictions' in State of the Union Address. While the president did direct the administrative scheduling review that is ongoing, he did not expunge any cannabis records. Two rounds of mass pardons. Largely symbolic action that offered formal forgiveness for people who've committed federal marijuana offenses.

Just so you know, I feel like if it's a fact-check you should avoid saying things like "largely symbolic" and you should explain what you mean. Because that, to me, is a value judgement. So like, is it largely symbolic?

How largely is it symbolic? That's a value judgement, not a thing that I think should be in a fact-check. So there was two sets of pardons.

Let's see what they were. The first one, this is from the office of the pardon guy. Pardon Attorney.

He's really called the pardon attorney. He is the pardon guy. So these are both - okay.

October, presidential proclamation pardoned many federal and DC offenses for simple marijuana possession offenses. So he did do that.

Number 2. Issued another proclamation expanded relief providing - adds to the list of pardoned offenses, offenses under federal law for attempted possession of marijuana.

That's the worst thing to go to jail for. "Why are you in jail?" I tried to get weed. There have been at least two pardons that have pardoned apparently thousands of people each.

What did he say in the State of the Union? Come on, clip it for me. Don't make me find it.

Okay, directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana. That actually seems like a bigger deal than any of this. And expunging thousands of convictions for the mere possession, because no one should be jailed for simply using or having it on their record.

So that's it. That's the one thing. So, reviewing federal classification, that's another - that's another claim.

So federal classification of illicit substances. There are different classes, and Class One is the most severe and marijuana in the US is a Class One drug.

Which is ludicrous! [laughs] I mean it breaks the whole system to have a Class One drug to be something as commonly available and nondestructive as marijuana. I'm not saying weed is good for you, it's not.  Like almost all drugs are bad for you, I mean they're all bad for you in certain quantities.  Alcohol is bad for you, weed is bad for you, tobacco is bad for you. None of these things are good for you but marijuana is not a super dangerous drug.

So, review Federal Classification, what does that mean? President Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to consider whether the classification of cannabis as a Schedule One drug under the Controlled Substances Act was appropriate in light of current medical science... Repeated failure of Congressional efforts to reform federal cannabis policies may have prompted the White House to advance this policy. So, Congress can't do it so Biden is saying: Hey HHS, see if you can change it from schedule one to schedule three. 

The HHS issued a recommendation to the DEA that marijuana be reclassificated from schedule one to schedule three after all, grouping cannabis with substances like heroin or OxyContin, schedule two, doesn't align with prevailing scientific consensus on the relative harm and medical utility. If the recommendation is approved it would no longer be listed as a dangerous substance like heroin or LSD. Are you putting those in the same category either? I don't know. And it would reduce potential, uhh, or potentially eliminate criminal penalties for possession. 

Sounds great! The decision rests with the DEA which has rarely if ever rejected a rescheduling recommendation from the HHS! The DEA will consider marijuana reclassification under three criteria's.  When will it do this would be a great thing to know. A descheduling order would be susceptible to legal challenge where a reschuduling wouldn't. Suggests that deschuduling cannabis entirely was never relalistic at this moment in history. 

I mean, I don't know, uh, Robert Hoban, cannabis attorney.  Well, kind of trust a cannabis attorney more than the average person.  See they definitely know more than I do. So, uh what I'm getting is this review federal classification and and a rescheduling of marijuana is a yes. And a big good thing that the Biden administration has done for this.  But that's not, has nothing to do with the original claim made in the tweet.

Can we just look at what Biden said and see if that's true? Um or, he didn't- I mean what did he say? Oh my gosh! How did I find myself at the Awesome Socks Club website? Wait can you get a pair of socks designed by a different independent artist delivered to your house every month? For as long as you need socks?

'Cause you're gonna need to buy socks sometime in the future, and it might as well be like cool dope socks designed by a different independent artist, and all of the profit goes to make healthcare systems in impoverished communities better instead of the profit going to some stranger. This is part of good.store.

Good.store is a place where we have a bunch of products that are like this, including the Awesome Coffee Club and the Sun Basin Soap. Sun Basin Soap just excellent, absolutely wonderful soap. We are not getting into the weed business though. But if you go to good.store you can sign up to get great products delivered to you, and all of the profit goes to make the world a better place.

It's just a better way to get better stuff. Anyway, back to the weed. "No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana." Joe Biden does not have control over state convictions and the criminal justice system in different states, but he does federally. So is anyone in federal jail? I mean these pardons happened, so no one is in prison for possession. Like I can't find that exact thing being said, but no one is in prison for possession.

What it seems like is being said is that it was largly symbolic so there weren't very many or any people in prison for that going in potentially. So pardon, yes. Two pardons happened. And then jailed for possession, no one right now. But were there any before is the question. So did he pardon these people, and he pardoned them and they were on parole? Or ect.

So has anyone been freed is the other question, which I think might be no. Because there's this article- where was it? "Quit Biden our time". "-served more than two decades- for participating in a marijuana distribution operation" which is different from what Joe Biden said.

So "the three thousand federal prisoners whose cannabis-related sentences were unaffected by the- mass pardon". "Biden's October 6th proclamation applied to only US citizens or legal permanent residents convicted of simple marijuana possession under the Controlled Substances Act

"-none of whom was still in-" Ah, there it is! Ah! So they were not still incarcerated. "Although his pardons could benefit as many as 10,000 or so individuals, that represents a tiny percentage of all the simple possession cases, which are typically charged under state law."

Uh, and I would think that rescheduling marijuana is the thing that the Biden administration would have the most influence over. 'Cause they can't pardon state level. Biden can't pardon people who are in state prisons. So he has done that. So I am feeling not great, like this is complicated, right?

So what I've got here. No one is freed, and also maybe no one was expunged. This is the thing I'm having the hardest time with. So Marijuana Moment says that he has not expunged anyone. It seems strange for that to be in the state of the union. I wouldn't put it past people.

It sounds- what he said sounds like he did do it, and so it'd be weird to have an outright lie. Usually a lie in a speech like the state of the union is more misleading rather than a true statement of incorrectness because these things are carefully crafted. But I wouldn't put it past him, you know?

Let's check out Marijuana Moment again. Expunge. "I keep my promises when I said no one, no one, should be in prison for merely possessing marijuana or using it, and their records should be expunged." "A presidential pardon represents formal forgiveness from the government, but it does not expunge the record."

"No. Expungement is a judicial remedy that is rarely granted by the court and cannot be granted within the department of justice or by the president." Well, it would be bad to promise something you literally cannot do. Uh. "I keep my promises when I said no one-" This isn't a promise. You say, like this is what you say, you say: "no one should be in prison for merely possessing marijuana".

Did do the pardons. There was no one in prison, but they did help a lot of people who then did have a presidential pardon. Maybe they were on parole, maybe they just were out of prison, but it's nice to be pardoned anyway. Their records should be expunged, but he cannot expunge the records. So yes, I agree that he falsely suggested that. That sounds like a false suggestion to me. 

And of course there are people still in federal prison over other non-violent marijuana offenses.

Totally, absolutely and also they should be pardoned. And then it says that "President hasn't indicated a willingness to promote decriminalization over his first three years in office" My marijuana attorney friend from earlier thought that that seemed unlikely, uh, and difficult to do. "He did direct an administrative review into cannabis rescheduling that's ongoing, now up to the DEA to make the final call." OK well, we've learned!

I think that we've learned basically what's going on.  So, Expungement, no, I feel confident in saying that's a no, pardons yes, jailed for possession, no one. Has anyone been freed? Apparently not.

Now people have been freed, for drug crimes by Joe Biden, but these pardons don't appear to have resulted in the freeing of anyone, because those people were already not in prison; they were on parole, or in other ways inside of the criminal justice system. 

Uh, and review classification, which seems to me like actually the most important part of all of this potentially because that could result in like a widespread ability for not just the federally-jailed people, which is a small minority, 'cause mostly people are not prosecuted federally. They're prosecuted by their state.

That that would be really good, and we should all be looking out for the DEA rescheduling marijuana. That's where I feel like we are. Having started with these tweets. "No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana." This is a belief that Joe Biden appears to have, having pardoned people who, uh, have entered the criminal justice system for possessing or using marijuana.

And also for people who attempted to possess marijuana. And then, uh, this person saying "Biden is always tweeting shit like who the hell is the president I'd like to have a word with him" is a simplification of the situation. So like one, Joe Biden did do this, he did this thing.

But also he did a better thing which is rescheduling marijuana, which maybe he doesn't wanna put a lot of attention on 'cause he'd like that to sorta operate behind the scenes without making it a culture war issue. But he hasn't done something he could do, which is to pardon a bunch of people who have other marijuana-related crimes and are actually in prison.

And this is a little bit of a misrepresentation because no one was in federal prison when Joe Biden took office for simply possessing or using or attempting to possess marijuana. I think. It seems like Twitter is bad!