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President Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general said on Monday that he thinks the enforcement of marijuana criminalization is the “perfect example” of how the criminal justice system is racially biased and disproportionately impacts communities of color. And because cannabis possession arrests can “follow a person for the rest of their lives,” he said the Justice Department should avoid prosecuting those cases.

Judge Merrick Garland, whose views on marijuana policy have been largely unclear to date, discussed cannabis enforcement at length during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He proactively returned to the issue after it was first raised by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and previewed actions the Justice Department could take to resolve such systemic problems.

While he wasn’t specifically pressed on how he would navigate the state-federal marijuana policy conflict as attorney general, nor did he volunteer that kind of insight when it comes to licensed cannabis businesses, the initial comments at least indicate his view that low-level offenses such as possession do not warrant incarceration. The hearing is ongoing, however, so it’s possible the issue will come up again at a later point.

“One of the big things driving arrests in our country—stunningly to me even that it is still the case—is marijuana arrests. We had in 2019 more marijuana arrests for possession than all violent crime arrests combined,” Booker said, adding that those arrests fall disparately on black and brown Americans despite the fact that white people use cannabis at a comparable rate.

“Is that evidence that within the system there is implicit racial bias?” Booker, who is part of a trio of lawmakers leading the charge to enact federal legalization in the Senate, asked.

“That’s definitely evidence of disparate treatment in the system, which I think does arise out of implicit bias—unconscious bias maybe, sometimes conscious bias,” Garland said. “This is a particular part of the reason why, at this moment, I think I wanted to be the attorney general.”

Booker picked up on Garland’s point about implicit bias and reiterated that just because there are racial disparities in the justice system doesn’t necessarily meant that those carrying out enforcement are overtly racist. The Biden nominee replied that “that’s correct” and the “marijuana example is a perfect example that you’ve given here.”

“Here’s a non-violent crime with respect to usage that does not require us to incarcerate people, and we’re incarcerating at significantly different rates compared to different communities,” Garland said. “That is wrong, and it’s the kind of problem that will then follow a person for the rest of their lives. It will make it impossible to get a job, it will lead to an economic spiral.”

Watch Garland’s hearing and comments on marijuana policy below. The hearing is ongoing: 

“If you just look at the impact of the law and the disparate impact on just marijuana, it is estimated to cost African-American communities in this country billions of dollars more,” Booker, who was recently named chair of a key Judiciary subcommittee, followed up. “My question to you now is, assuming this position…what are you going to do about this outrageous injustice that persists and infects our society with such a toll on black and brown communities?”

Garland said that there are “many things that the Justice Department has to do in this regard” and one of those things is “we can focus our attention on violent crimes and other crimes that put great danger in our society, and not allocate our resources to something like marijuana possession.”

He added that prosecutors could further mitigate mass incarceration by reviewing and revising sentencing standards so that people don’t face the maximum punishment for certain crimes.

The comments represent a major departure from former President Donald Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who rescinded Obama-era guidance that advised federal prosecutors to generally not pursue action against individuals for state-legal cannabis-related activity, except under a limited set of circumstances.

President Trump’s second attorney general, William Barr, was not openly hostile to cannabis reform and maintained that Congress should take steps to resolve the state-federal marijuana policy conflict. But he did not make any definitive statements about the need to shift gears administratively, nor did he dedicate time while in office to recognize the racial disparities of cannabis enforcement.

Barr did allegedly direct the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to carry out investigations into 10 marijuana mergers out of personal animus for the industry. A whistleblower who testified before a key House committee claimed the investigations were unnecessary and wasted departmental resources. But the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division later argued that the investigations were actually “consistent with protecting consumers’ access to cannabis products, not with animosity toward the industry.”

Garland, who was previously nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Supreme Court only to have his nomination blocked by Senate Republicans, was relatively silent on the issue prior to the confirmation hearing. His judicial record did indicate that he believes in deference to the Drug Enforcement Administration when it comes to drug scheduling, raising initial concerns among advocates.

But while his broader enforcement position remains to be seen, Garland did clearly express on Monday that he feels that the lowest level cannabis offenses should not justify incarcerating individuals.

It now seems apparent that he and Biden are principally aligned on that matter as it concerns decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession. It’s remains unclear, however, whether he would generally take a hands-off approach to licensed cannabis businesses that are complying with state laws, as the president called for during his campaign.

Biden also supports legalizing medical marijuana, modestly rescheduling the plant and expunging prior cannabis convictions. He remains opposed to adult-use legalization, however, despite supermajority support for the policy change within his party.

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The post Marijuana Enforcement Is A ‘Perfect Example’ Of Racial Discrimination, Biden AG Pick Garland Says appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Kyle Jaeger, KahliBuds, 420GrowLife