This week American politician and activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, urged President Biden to use executive authority on marijuana policy.
AOC took to her Twitter where she wrote, “Biden needs to lean on his executive authority now. He has been delaying and underutilizing it so far. There is an enormous amount he can do on climate, student debt, immigration, cannabis, health care, and more. Time is running out – we need to move and use alternative paths.”
AOC recently filed a bipartisan bill to incentivize state-level cannabis expungements.
The congresswoman has been critical of the president and his position on cannabis.
AOL had told Marijuana Moment before Biden became president that his remarks on the campaign trail about cannabis as a potential gateway drug amounted to “Reagan-era talking points.”
“The only thing that marijuana, due to the failures of U.S. policy, is a gateway to is our mass incarceration system,” she said during the time.
AOC has been among the first politicians to suggest that Biden use executive authority to advance marijuana reform.
She was one of 36 other colleagues who wrote a letter to the president in February that urged him to grant mass pardons to people with federal cannabis convictions.
Biden recently received a follow-up letter demanding a status update.
Since the election, neither Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris, who sponsored a legalization bill while serving in the Senate, have spoken about their cannabis campaign pledges.
