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Liberals push Biden on marijuana reform ahead of midterm momentum

"No more time for delays, time to strike is NOW! "

BY ARIS FOLLEY AND HANNA TRUDO - 09/08/22 12:50 PM ET

Democrats are beginning to pressure President Biden to take on marijuana reform as Congress struggles to find a path forward on decriminalization and as the party contemplates what’s possible before the midterms.

Liberals have been building momentum with just two months until the November elections with back-to-back wins on key pieces of Biden’s agenda, from student loans to health care and tax reform.
With the wind at their sails, they are now hoping to get the president on their side once again by moving toward what they believe would change the nation’s criminal justice system in a meaningful way.

“Now that the president has delivered on a progressive policy of student debt relief, he has seen an uptick in the polls, he’s united the base, put Republicans on the defensive and Democrats across the country seem to be riding the wave as well,” said Stacey Walker, an influential Iowa Democrat and former surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who focused on cannabis reform during the “unity task force” negotiations between theBiden and Sanders camps in 2020.

“Along with several members of President Biden’s senior leadership team, we all agreed that at the very least the president should decriminalize marijuana and reschedule it through executive action at the federal level,” Walker said of the negotiations following the last presidential election.

On the campaign trail, some Democratic candidates are becoming more vocal about the issue, seeking to reignite what they see is not only a moral imperative but a smart political move to maintain their majority.

The loudest call in recent weeks came from Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, one of the most prominent Democrats to publicly urge Biden ahead of a visit to the Keystone State to direct his political will toward reforms where a closely watched race to flip a Senate seat is currently skewing in Fetterman’s favor.

“It’s long past time that we finally decriminalize marijuana,” said Fetterman, who is comfortably leading against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz. “The president needs to use his executive authority to begin.”

Fetterman was not alone. His request came after a group of Democratic senators sent a letter to the Biden administration ahead of the August recess pushing the president to start addressing the issue. They asked officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to remove marijuana from the list of federal controlled substances and pardon those convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.

“I think Biden understands the larger issues at play here and I’m encouraged by that,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the Democrats who signed on to the letter, told The Hill on Tuesday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who also helped lead the letter, stressed, “There is more that we could do.”

The lawmakers said the request was a follow-up after receiving a “disappointing” response months prior, claiming the DOJ’s sole reason for not acting was a determination by the Department of Health and Human Services that “cannabis has not been proven in scientific studies to be a safe and effective treatment for any disease or condition.”

Lot more in article see below:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3634045-liberals-push-biden-on-marijuana-reform-ahead-of-midterm-momentum/