This week two Missouri lawmakers have filed resolutions urging President Joe Biden to end marijuana criminalization and to provide executive relief to those caught up in the drug war.
The duo has also asked for a resolution to condemn what some view as racial disparities in how athletic organizations apply drug testing standards.
Rep. Dottie Bailey (R) has put forward a resolution that condemns the decision by international sports associations to ban U.S. sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson from participating in last year’s Olympics after testing positive for marijuana while this year allowing a Russian skater to compete despite testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug.
Richardson had said the decision-making in the separate cases spoke to a racial double standard. Bailey agreed that “this double standard is indicative of extreme anti American and racial bias.”
Separately, the chair of the Missouri Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove (D), filed a resolution that more broadly addresses the need to end cannabis prohibition and provide executive relief to those caught up in the drug war.
The resolution states that the Biden should “grant a general pardon to all nonviolent federal marijuana offenders and work to uphold his campaign promises of decriminalizing cannabis generally and legalizing cannabis for medical purposes.”
These measures were introduced weeks after a Republican Missouri lawmaker unveiled a bill to tax and regulate adult-use marijuana in the state.
