The White House is involved in initial talks about a new clemency initiative. However, advocates seek to keep up the pressure on Biden — noting he is directly responsible for jailing many drug dealers, including with the 1994 crime law he authored as a senator.
Biden recanted his “lock ’em up” stance and said back in 2019: “I think we should decriminalize marijuana, period. And I think everyone – anyone who has a record – should be let out of jail, their records expunged, be completely zeroed out.”
THE UNSEEN VICTIMS OF WAR: HOW RUSSIA'S INVASION LEFT THOUSANDS OF DISABLED UKRAINIANS IN PERIL
Corvain Cooper, 41, was jailed for life for marijuana under the “three strikes” rule in Biden’s 1994 crime law and told The Post, “No one should be serving a long prison sentence over marijuana when states and big corporations are making billions of dollars off of this plant.”
WATCH: BYRON DONALDS ENGAGES WITH HAMAS SUPPORTERS
Former President Donald Trump in January released Cooper alongside six other people with life sentences for marijuana.
WATCH MAYOR ADAMS: "YOU DON'T TAKE OVER OUR BUILDINGS AND PUT ANOTHER FLAG UP"
Cooper noted, “When the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, the president has to step in and fix that.”
Ismael Lira, 43, and Pedro Moreno, 61, are among the federal inmates still held with life sentences for pot. They both were convicted of distributing marijuana imported from Mexico.
WATCH: DOJ SET TO INDICT TEXAS DEMOCRAT REP.HENRY CUELLER, WHAT'S AT STAKE, YOU ASK?
“I believe President Biden truly sees the harm caused to the community of color, and I also believe President Biden will keep his promise to free all pot prisoners,” Lira said in an email from prison.
Moreno, who pleaded guilty, was harshly punished in part because he allegedly encouraged a co-defendant to flee to Mexico. He and four of his brothers were sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for smuggling pot from 1986 to 1996. His brothers were freed in 2017 by President Barack Obama.
THE HAWAII BILLIONAIRE BATTLE: MEET THE RECLUSIVE RICHEST MAN ON THE ISLAND...
“I am a first offender who has served a quarter of a century and pray President Biden will have mercy on me and my family,” Moreno stated in a message relayed by his daughter.
“All I want is to reunite with my children and my grandkids so we can become whole and put my past mistakes to bed. April is the second chance month. I pray President Biden will consider me worthy of a second chance so my family can celebrate all the milestones we have missed over the years. I’m truly remorseful for my crime and pledge to devote my life to making up for the past. I promise I won’t need a third chance.”
April 20 has become an unofficial holiday for marijuana enthusiasts — reportedly derived from 4:20, a code used by some California high schoolers in the 1970s for the time of day they would get together to smoke weed.
The pleas for clemency come as marijuana legalization reaches a tipping point, including with recent state-level legalization in New York, Virginia and New Mexico.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
