President Biden has taken a huge step in decriminalizing marijuana.
Biden issued a statement on Thursday saying he will pardon all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. In the statement, he also calls on state governors to follow suit as well as direct the Department of Health and Human Services to review marijuana’s classification as a schedule 1 drug.
According to data from the United States Sentencing Commission Arizona has, by far and away, the largest number of federal marijuana offenders since 2015. No other state comes close. There are 4,692 marijuana possession offenders in Arizona between 2015 and 2021. A report released by the Sentencing Commission in 2016 attributes the large number in Arizona almost exclusively to border apprehensions, about 96%.
Most federal sentences for marijuana possession occurred in Arizona between 2015 and 2017. Federal courts only handed down two marijuana possession offenses in the state in 2021.
The commission’s data also breaks down offenders by demographics. 95% of possession offenders since 2015 in Arizona are Hispanic. 93% are male, and 80% are under the age of 35. Most possession offenders are not U.S. citizens as they only make up 11%. None are classified as career offenders.
Biden is pardoning all marijuana possession offenders, not just recent ones. The number of total federal offenders was not readily available, but what is known is the reason Biden called on state governors to also issue pardons is most marijuana possession offenses happen at the state level. FBI crime statistics report that since 1985 there have been 244,165 drug possession arrests in Arizona. About 51% of the arrests were for marijuana possession. Like the federal data, marijuana possession prosecutions, convictions, and sentences have plummeted in Arizona since 2017.
Martin Hutchins is an attorney with the Arizona Justice Project. He works to expunge the records of simple possessors in Arizona. A step farther than a pardon. Arizona currently has laws on the books allowing for expungement of marijuana simple possession charges after the passage of prop 207 in 2020.
“I am hoping the President’s action inspires more of those county attorneys to actually take advantage of the provision of the expungement law,” Hutchins said. “So far we only see Maricopa County taking advantage of it.”
Hutchings told ABC 15 that the war on drugs has had a disproportionate impact on people of color so county attorneys expunging simple possession records will benefit them. While a pardon restores certain rights, an expungement seals the record which Hutchins says will reduce sentences and increase job prospects.
