Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has talked to Joe Biden and asked him to free thousands of people who are in jail on weed charges.
Biden promised in October 2022 to “correct our country’s failed approach to marijuana” by freeing the thousands of people in jail for nonviolent cannabis offenses. Mike Tyson pushed Biden to keep his word. Trump said he would make changes, but Tyson says Biden “has the power to effect real change—he can right these wrongs and grant clemency to those who are sitting in prison for cannabis offenses.”
Tyson stressed that this was a chance for the United States to move forward. He said, “We know the failed war on drugs was wrong, and no one should be in jail for cannabis.” It’s time for our country to move on and end the ban on weed for good.
There are over 2,000 prisoners, mostly people of color, who are in jail on weed charges, while the legal cannabis market has grown to almost $40 billion a year. This is something that a lot of people are talking about. Since weed is now legal in 24 states, many people want these prisoners to be freed because the charges against them are no longer crimes in half of the country.
There is some disagreement about how much power Biden really has over these crooks who are in jail, but Tyson still begged Biden to get the states to help free them. People have also said that Biden lied to voters when he said he would decriminalize marijuana and work to get nonviolent cannabis criminals out of jail. However, Biden doesn’t always have full control.
The US Sentencing Commission said that “no offenders sentenced solely for simple possession of marijuana remained in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.” They said that prisoners who haven’t been freed are also being charged with other crimes, like drug dealing.
Mike Tyson said that the White House will get a message he wrote to try to change the justice system and make peace with people all over the country, especially poor and black people who have been behind bars for cannabis charges.
