U.S. President Barack Obama commuted sentences of 22 drug offenders, with 8 of them currently serving life sentences.
Those same individuals were serving time for criminal offenses which include distribution of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.
The White House said the federal drug law changes prompted such commutations to be a matter of justice and fairness.
Obama also took the step of writing a letter for each commuted recipients, telling them to make the most of their rare freedom.
The commutation is part of Obama’s push to overturn some harsher parts of the never-ending war on drugs.
In 2014, the Obama administration made a new clemency initiative announcement made to free non-violent drug criminals who have clean prison records, are not a threat to the public, and without any ties to crime or gangs.
Obama also showed interest in going for a bipartisan sentencing reform, which have bonded conservative and progressive groups in the last few years.
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