Top White House staffers under the Biden administration have shed new light on the mass marijuana pardon and cannabis rescheduling process they helped facilitate, revealing the extent to which they were involved in broader clemency actions that are now under scrutiny by GOP leaders.
As part of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigation into the last administration—which focused on allegations that then-President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health left key executive decisions up to his staff (and his autopen)—several staffers commented on the two rounds of pardons that were issued for people who’ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses.
Former Biden Chief of Staff Ronald Klain was asked broadly about Biden’s role in approving pardon requests, and he said “they were very rare,” but the marijuana clemency actions stood out for their scale. He also mentioned being aware of the president’s cannabis rescheduling review directive that led federal agencies to recommend moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
“There were no pardons or clemencies in 2021 at all. 2022, there were two sets, as I recall—one in the summer, which was derived from a memo the president had issued trying to reschedule marijuana off of Schedule III to Schedule I, directing the secretary of health and human services and the head of the DEA to reexamine the scheduling of marijuana, and making clear that anyone who was in prison for the mere possession of—in federal prison for the mere possession of marijuana was eligible to apply for a pardon under the memorandum.”
“I believe a few pardons were ultimately issued. But I was not involved,” Klain said in an interview with the committee. “I was involved in the preparation of that memo, but not in the subsequent followup in terms of applications to the Justice Department and how those applications came from the [Justice Department] to the president and whatnot.”
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