WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) issued the following statement on President Biden’s Executive Order on cannabis:

“President Biden’s executive order is transformative for the lives of thousands of people and families harmed by our broken cannabis laws. This is a huge step forward toward a more just criminal justice system and more rational drug policy. 

“Now it’s time for Congress and states to put an end to our failed policies by legalizing and appropriately regulating cannabis, taxing cannabis, reinvesting proceeds in communities disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs, and expunging criminal records for nonviolent drug offenses.”

In October 2021, Senator Booker urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use its existing authority under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) to begin the process of removing cannabis’s classification as a Schedule I drug. Decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level through this descheduling process will remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws and facilitate valuable medical research. In July 2022, Senator Booker again urged the Biden Administration to use its existing authority to remove cannabis and issue pardons to all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.

Sen. Booker’s letter to the DOJ can be found here.  

Sen. Booker’s letter to the Biden Administration can be found here