The Biden administration’s move to loosen federal regulations on marijuana could help the president make much-needed headway among younger voters, a group that was crucial to his 2020 win but is showing waning enthusiasm for his reelection bid.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s announcement last month that it will move forward with taking marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III substance represents the most substantial federal action on the drug since it was first scheduled in 1970.
While still not a complete decriminalization, the change, once finalized, would make marijuana use and possession a less serious crime at the federal level. According to Democratic pollster and strategist Celinda Lake, this can be coupled with a criminal justice message to woo young voters.
“I think it needs to be linked to the criminal justice reform that the President, the Vice President already have been very active on. And I think it’s a very, very good part of a package of talking to young people about abortion, about threats to democracy, about student loans,” said Lake.
The move has been welcomed by marijuana advocates, but also criticized for falling short of their demands for the complete decriminalization of the drug, which Biden backed in his 2020 campaign.
[Read more at The Hill]