President Biden on Friday granted pardons to people convicted of using and possessing marijuana on certain federal lands and commuted the sentence of 11 inmates convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.
The pardons will clear everyone convicted of federal charges of simple possession or use of marijuana on certain federal lands, which could include federally managed properties such as an international airport or national park.
Mr. Biden said he was correcting an injustice in federal laws.
“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities. Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time we right these wrongs,” the president said in a statement.
It is unclear how many people would be impacted by the pardon, which also applies to people convicted under District of Columbia drug laws.
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department provided information about how many people received the pardon.
Marijuana possession on federal land carries penalties ranging from a $250 citation to a court summons to a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
The pardons do not apply to people convicted of selling or distributing marijuana on certain federal lands.
Friday’s actions were somewhat of an about-face for Mr. Biden, who during his nearly four decades in the Senate, worked to pass laws implementing more stringent penalties for drug crimes.
As a senator in 1994, Mr. Biden championed a crime bill that laid the groundwork for mass incarceration, disproportionately impacting the Black community. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Mr. Biden apologized for championing such aggressive measures and promised more leniency to nonviolent drug offenders.
Civil rights groups, including those representing minorities, have been pushing Mr. Biden to take stronger actions to demonstrate his commitment to overhauling what they say are inequities built into the criminal justice system.
The Congressional Black Caucus hailed the pardons and clemency, saying it was a “positive step forward and addressing long-standing racial disparities in crack and powder cocaine sentencing, which for generations, has disproportionately imprisoned Black Americans.”
“It is our hope that clemency be granted to more Black Americans who have been criminalized by the decades-old policies of the War on Drugs era,” they said in a statement.
This year’s Christmas pardons follow Mr. Biden’s October 2022 pardon of thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law, fulfilling a campaign promise to erase prior federal possession convictions.
In his statement, Mr. Biden also encouraged governors to take similar steps to pardon state marijuana possession charges, a move that would affect many thousands of Americans.
The reprieves are part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to help those who have completed federal sentences reenter society. White House officials did not say when the 11 commutations would go into effect.
Mr. Biden has issued about 92 commutations during his presidency, including the 11 who were granted clemency on Friday, according to Justice Department records. He also pardoned 12 individuals separately from the blanket pardon he issued last year for the roughly 6,500 federal defendants convicted of simple marijuana possession.
“No one should be in federal prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana,” Mr. Biden said.
However, he did not call for federal decriminalization of marijuana, which is something that Congress would have to do.
Marijuana is illegal under federal law, even as individual states have moved toward legalizing it for recreational and medical purposes. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is considered a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
The president on Friday also commuted the sentence of 11 defendants convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, including some with crack cocaine convictions.
Six of the commutations go into effect on April 20, 2024, three go into effect on February 20, 2024, and one had their life sentence reduced to a term of 25 years. Another had their sentence commuted from life in prison to a term of 27 years plus 10 years supervised release.
The White House described the defendants as “serving disproportionately long sentences for non-violent drug offenses.”
Many would have gotten a lower sentence if they were charged today with the same offense. A commuted sentence means they’ll spend less time in prison, but it is not a pardon, which eliminates the conviction.
Clemency was granted to
• Felipe Arriaga of Sunnyside, Washington, who was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
• Earlie Deacon Barber of Dothan, Alabama, who was sentenced to life in prison for possession and distribution of substances containing cocaine.
• James Michael Barber, of Gastonia, North Carolina, who was sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine and 280 grams of a cocaine base.
• Anthony Ewing, of Union City, Georgia, who was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack.
• Quittman Andre Goodley, of Austin, Texas, who was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine base.
• Deondre Codell Higgis, of Kansas City, who was sentenced to life in prison with no supervised release for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base, distribution of cocaine base.
• Leroy Lymons of Pensacola, Florida, who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing cocaine.
• Angel Rosario, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison for crack and cocaine offenses.
• Esaisas J. Tucker, of Tallahassee Florida, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for cocaine offenses.
• Darryl Allen Winkfield, of Augusta, Georgia, who was sentenced to life in prison for cocaine offenses.
• Kenneth Walker, of Indianapolis, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine.
