Obama pardons higher proportion of drug offenders than Bush, Clinton

One-third of President Obama’s clemency actions have been drug-related, a higher rate of drug-crime forgiveness than other recent presidents.

On Friday, the White House released information about Obama’s first pardons in more than a year. With 17 new pardons for minor offenses, the president’s total number of commutations and pardons is 40 — 13 of which forgave people who committed crimes related to cocaine or marijuana.

Obama has offered the lowest rate of clemency among modern presidents.