Is Biden Trying to Win Back Young Voters With ‘Historic Step’ Toward Decriminalizing Marijuana?

President Joe Biden’s moves matter now more than ever with the presidential elections coming up in November. Amid battling waning support from the left, the 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief seems to be attempting to lock down supporters, specifically young voters.

Climbing closer to the decriminalization of marijuana, President Biden will reclassify, formally known as reschedule, cannabis as a less dangerous drug, AP News reported Wednesday. Marijuana being reclassified means that it goes from a strict Schedule I into a lenient Schedule III—Schedule I is defined as a drug with “no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to NBC news. The drug hasn’t been outside of the Schedule I category, which also includes heroin and methamphetamines, since 1971.

Reclassification of marijuana allows the drug to be studied and researched further to discover concrete medical benefits. It will also lift hefty taxes that are burdening marijuana businesses operating in the 24 states where cannabis is legal. Cannabis being bumped from Schedule I to Schedule III can also help in eliminating the racial disparity in the criminal justice system that stems from marijuana possession.

ABC reported on Wednesday that “a 2018 report from the ACLU found that Black people were 3.6 times more likely than White people to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite research showing similar usage rates.”

Decriminalizing cannabis was one of the promises that Biden made to secure the youth vote in 2020, along with canceling student loan debt. Since many have been pressing the Biden administration to stick to the proposed promises the longtime congressman presented then, some felt the cannabis reclassification was long overdue.

“About time! Let’s rethink and re-up the green scene!” one user shared in excitement on X, fka Twitter. 

“The world is about to become a better place,” another X user claimed.

Even Senator Elizabeth Warren, 74, weighed in on Biden’s “historic step” toward decriminalizing cannabis.

“For the first time under @POTUS Biden, the government will no longer treat marijuana the same as heroin. It’s a big deal. I fought hard for this common sense and historic step,” she wrote on X.

“We need to fully legalize marijuana and begin to repair the harms of an unjust war on drugs,” the senator continued.

Although reclassification doesn’t legalize marijuana at the federal level, it does push the needle closer to it becoming so. Over 70 percent of young adults aged from 18 to 29 are in strong support of weed being legalized for medicinal and recreational use, the Pew Research Center reported in March. Biden’s push for cannabis reclassification might be an attempt to improve his swaying public opinion among Millennial and Gen Z voters, two groups instrumental in his 2020 win.

Right now, many young adults disapprove of him for passing legislation last week that included the TikTok ban bill, and how he’s handling the Israel-Gaza conflict. According to the Guardian, “In April, a Harvard poll found that Biden leads Trump by eight percentage points among 18-to-29-year-olds, down from a 23-point lead Biden had at the same point in 2020.”

Can Biden turn things around enough in time for the forthcoming election in November? Only time will tell.