Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Thursday pardoned thousands of Americans convicted of marijuana possession in a major new step towards destigmatizing the drug — and fulfilling a promise to his supporters a month before midterm elections. “I am announcing a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana,” Biden said. He did not call for fully decriminalizing cannabis, saying that “limitations on trafficking, marketing and under-age sales should stay in place.” Instead, the president homed in on individual possession of a substance that the government health…