John Fetterman, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, has taken aim at his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, while praising President Joe Biden for pardoning those with federal convictions for marijuana possession.
Biden announced on Thursday that he would be pardoning all prior federal convictions for simple marijuana possession, while declaring that "no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana." Fetterman, Pennsylvania's current lieutenant governor, released a statement soon after calling Biden's decision a "significant, necessary, and just step to right a wrong and better the lives of millions of Americans" and that he had recently spoken to the president about federal decriminalization of marijuana.
"This is a [big f**king deal] and a massive step towards justice," Fetterman said in the statement. "When I heard President Biden would be in Pittsburgh a month ago, I knew that if I had a chance to sit down with him, I would use that opportunity to talk about the need to decriminalize marijuana. And that's exactly what I did."
The Democratic candidate then took aim at Oz and Republicans. He warned them against conflating marijuana possession with "seriously harmful crime," while asserting that his experience as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, had taught him that marijuana possession does not qualify as a serious crime.
"I don't want to hear any bulls**t from Dr. Oz or any Republican conflating decriminalizing marijuana with seriously harmful crime," Fetterman said. "As mayor of Braddock, I worked to combat serious crime. I know what it looks like. And I know that marijuana just doesn't fit the bill.
"More than 350,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana related offenses in 2020," he continued. "The resources to make those arrests should be going towards combating serious crime—and now they will. This decision will make Americans safer."
Brittany Yannick, communications director for the Oz campaign, told Newsweek in a statement that "John Fetterman wants to go even further than Biden - he'd decriminalize hard drugs like Fentanyl and Crystal Meth that are literally killing Pennsylvanians."
Fetterman campaign spokesperson Joe Calvello told Newsweek that Yannick's claim about the decriminalization of hard drugs was "one of many lies" from the rival campaign.
"John is an outspoken advocate for weed legalization and has always believed we should not be criminalizing addiction," Calvello said in a statement. "We need to make sure that we are locking up drug dealers who are pushing and profiting from hard drugs, while making sure that people get real help if they are addicted."
"But let's be clear, this is just one of many lies from Oz," the statement continued. "John does not support decriminalizing all drugs including heroin, methamphetamines, and other hard drugs."
While Oz had not personally weighed in on Biden's pardons at the time of publication, his rhetoric concerning marijuana has seemingly changed over the years. The celebrity doctor said that marijuana "absolutely works" and called it "one of the most underused tools in America" during a 2020 interview, while arguing that "we ought to completely change our policy on marijuana."
However, while running for Senate this year, Oz released an ad that showed a bong emerging from Fetterman's head while describing his policies as "crazy." And during a Fox News interview, he said that Fetterman was "known for hanging a pot flag outside the window" and criticized him for wanting "to get marijuana legalized."
Biden explained his pardons on Thursday by saying that "too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana."
"There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result," he said in a statement. "My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions."
The president's proclamation also directs Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland to review marijuana's current status as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
Biden added that he was "urging all Governors" to also pardon marijuana possession offenses at the state level.
Update 10/06/22, 10:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.
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