 Well, folks, it seems as if we have a little bit of breaking news. President Joe Biden just made a huge announcement, and it's a positive one, because we are taking drastic steps towards the legalization of cannabis. Now we're not there yet, but what he did is undeniably good. Via the White House Twitter account he writes, as I've said before, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. Today, I'm taking steps to end our failed approach, allowing me to lay them out. First, I'm pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. There are thousands of people who were previously convicted of simple possession who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result. My pardon will remove this burden. Second, I'm calling on governors to pardon simple state marijuana possession offenses. Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely for possessing marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason either. Third, we classify marijuana at the same level as heroin, and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense. I'm asking Secretary Becerra and the Attorney General to initiate the process of reviewing how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. I'd also like to note that as federal and state regulations change, we need important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales of marijuana. Sending people to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives for conduct that is legal in many states. That's before you address the clear racial disparities around prosecution and conviction. Today, we begin to right these wrongs. And I think that that's a great way to end this. We begin to right these wrongs. This is not the end all be all, but this is a really great step towards writing the wrongs of the United States is war on drugs and also Joe Biden writing the wrongs because as a senator, he did contribute to this with his crime bill. Now, there are other things that I wish he would have done. First of all, I wish that he would have called for marijuana to be removed entirely from the controlled substances act. Second of all, I wish that he would have endorsed legislation in the Senate that would have done just that and would have brought him farther to these goals. So it's called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. Still, this is a really important step in the right direction. Now let's go to experts here like Cassandra Frederique of the Drug Policy Alliance, because I think that her opinion here is really valuable. She said the advocacy group is thrilled to see President Biden holding true to his commitment to pardon every person with simple marijuana charges at the federal level. Convictions that leave people saddled with a criminal record preventing them from obtaining employment, housing and countless other opportunities. We, however, hope that the Biden administration will go further and fully deschedule marijuana from the controlled substances act rather than initiate a process that could lead to rescheduling. She continued, keeping marijuana on the federal drug schedule will mean people will continue to face criminal charges for marijuana Frederique argued. It also means that research will continue to be inhibited and state level markets will be at odds with federal law. And that right there is really important because we're in this weird legal gray area where we could get a president with an attorney general that chooses to go after states with legal weed and that would be really terrifying. Thankfully, we dodged a bullet back in 2017 when Trump became president and Jeff Sessions was attorney general. He had a very harsh stance towards marijuana. So a lot of states that had legalized pot at that point were worried. We were bracing for impact thinking that this would be the end. But thankfully it wasn't the end. But to ensure that we are never in a situation where states are violating federal law, it needs to be legalized at the federal level. Now we're not there yet. Biden is not calling for that yet to be clear. But I think that momentum is very clearly rolling in that direction. So take a look at this map here. More than a dozen states have already legalized cannabis recreationally. This includes Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, New York, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska. I mean, the majority of the American population lives in a state with legal weed. So this is one of those situations where we're seeing a domino effect. We're seeing the popularity of legal cannabis for recreational purposes. And you can't really unring that bell, right? You can't unopen Pandora's box. It's legal in many states, and they're not going to go back. And in the event we ever get a more reactionary president who's against legalization or if they appoint an attorney general who wants to go after it, they're going to have a hell of a time. So the trajectory is very clearly headed in one direction. And that is full legalization in all 50 states. Joe Biden, he's not going to get us there, but he just put us one step closer to that goal. And I think that this is something to be celebrated. I'll also note the conspicuous timing. Just, you know, a month before the election, I really hate when politicians, you know, they time big announcements when it's politically optimal. Nonetheless, the fact that he's doing this in and of itself is good. Is it a little bit too late? Sure. Did I wish that he made this announcement in month one of his presidency? So that way, some of the things would have already taken effect. Yeah, of course. But the fact that he's doing this, it's good. It's smart politics to do it before an election. And it just shows you that there's one party, even if there's a lot of flaws with the Democratic Party. They are much different than the Republican Party. They just need to, collectively, as a party, embrace the legalization of marijuana fully. All of them need to get on board because this is popular. Americans want marijuana to be legalized. A majority of the country wants recreational marijuana. So if you get on the side of what's popular, if you get on the right side of history, you will be rewarded for it politically. And this is just one step closer to what I think is absolutely long overdue. So kudos to Biden for doing this.