Oct. 6, 2022, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement on President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon marijuana possession offenders:
“President Biden’s decision to order the release of federal inmates convicted of marijuana offenses demonstrates either a willful disregard for the truth or a dangerous political blindness.
“People caught smoking a joint on the corner are not in federal prison. People who are smuggling drugs are. The fact is that it is easier to convict someone of simple possession than it is to prove that someone is smuggling, so oftentimes, the crime is pled down by the defendant to get a shorter prison term.
“It is irresponsible and dangerous to release thousands of major drug smugglers and dealers onto the streets of America. Last year, the CDC reports that more than 107,000 Americans died from overdoses, up more than 30,000 from when President Trump was in office and more than 50,000 since 2019 when the COVID lockdown policies began.
“Today Joe Biden chose to put thousands of drug dealers and smugglers back onto our streets without any attempt at individually reviewing their cases or any selection process to try to determine the circumstances surrounding their conviction.
“Drug smugglers don’t specialize in what they transport. Today fentanyl, largely made in China, is responsible for about half the drug deaths. Rather than pandering to the pot lobby, if the president were doing his job, he would be doing everything possible to shut down the international supply chain for fentanyl, whether it be through cargo ships from China or coming across our southern border.
“Instead, he chose to release thousands who afflicted a previous generation through their crimes. If Biden had taken a careful path by examining the records of individual inmates and pardoning those who had proven good records in prison and/or were the very small minority whose only offense involved small quantities of marijuana, my criticism would be muted.
“But this indiscriminate prisoner release without regard to the extent of their dope smuggling and sales is reprehensible and a slap in the face to those families, neighborhoods and communities that are being overrun by the drug crisis.”
For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
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