Editor: I’m happy to hear that Biden commuted sentences of people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, regular Americans who deserve it. As someone who, at one point, was in active addiction (now 5 years substance-free), I’m sure some people will disagree with a position I’ve long-held—I felt this way even before I got addicted to pain medication after an emergency appendectomy (surgery to remove an appendix, usually due to appendicitis) as an adult. Prior to that I didn’t even try alcohol until I turned 21 and I had never tried any type of illegal substance—not even marijuana.
Getting addicted to Oxycontin, then buying it off the street, then eventually trying heroin, and ending up addicted to opiates as an injecting drug user for almost a decade, taught me that people addicted to drugs are not necessarily bad people. In fact, I met others like myself out there: college-educated moms who had never been in legal trouble and never imagined themselves becoming drug addicts. People become addicted for reasons, but I was a painfully shy person who was so introverted that I never went to parties in high school, not even after graduating.
As soon as I took the pain medication in the hospital, I was talking to the nurses, crackin’ jokes and having a great time. So it’s not difficult to understand why I would want to feel like that all the time. My depression and social anxiety was no longer holding me back in life. Obviously, the “fun times” ended quickly and I became a “slave” to the substance.
My intention wasn’t to hijack the news to talk about myself, but to provide a little background info to explain why I’ve always believed (even moreso after my life experience) that people who are in possession of—or caught buying—drugs for their own personal use shouldn’t be put in jail.
Leave those people alone and go after the dealers and everyone higher up the drug trafficking chain. The people hooked on the drugs are not out there buying the stuff in order to purposefully break the law and engage in criminal behavior.
So I am happy to see that Joe Biden commuted the sentences of so many people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
President Joe Biden announced Friday that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
Biden — who has just three days left in the Oval Office — has granted a sweeping number of pardons and commutations throughout his term. With Friday’s total, he has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any other U.S. president, according to the White House.
The commutations are aimed at people who are serving longer sentences than they would receive today under current law and practice.
Biden said the clemency actions offer relief for people who were given “lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” per a Friday statement.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” Biden said.
He also said he would continue to review additional commutations and pardons.
In December, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, reclassifying their sentences to life without the possibility of parole. Three men who were charged with hate-motivated mass shootings and terrorism were kept on death row.
Earlier that month, Biden commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic. He also granted pardons for 39 people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Biden faced criticism for issuing a full and unconditional pardon in December to his son, Hunter Biden, over federal gun and tax crimes. The move was a sharp reversal of his previous position on the matter.
Last updated 3:04 p.m., Jan. 17, 2025
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