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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The state of California legalised recreational cannabis use in November 2016, and it will become legal state-wide on Monday. That means anyone 21 and older will be able to buy cannabis from a licensed store, known as a dispensary.
The resentencing provisions of Proposition 64, California's cannabis legalisation initiative, have been in effect since last year, said Eunisses Hernandez, a policy coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance, a group working to end drug prohibition. But few people know about the resentencing provision, which applies to people who are currently imprisoned or out on parole, Hernandez told Al Jazeera.
Individuals who apply for resentencing may be released from prison or have the charge on their criminal record reduced. Felonies may be lowered to misdemeanours, misdemeanours to infractions, or infractions to an outright dismissal of charges.
Resentencing will likely affect thousands of lives, since at least 500,000 marijuana-related arrests have been recorded in California over the last decade, Hernandez said.
[...] Several groups in the US have urged authorities to include changes to drug-related criminal offences in their efforts to legalise recreational cannabis.
Proponents of cannabis legalisation feared that allowing people with past drug convictions to get out of jail or reduce their sentences would lower the chance that the laws would pass at all. "There was, in many cases, a reluctance to bring this up," he told Al Jazeera.
Today, opponents of resentencing provisions often argue that retrying these cases puts "a very, very large potential burden on the courts", Sterling said.
Law enforcement officers may also contend that a guilty plea to cannabis possession may follow the dropping of more serious charges, such as possession with the intent to distribute - "and so to make a blanket change without looking at all of the underlying facts of the arrest would mean that more serious offenders would have their records expunged", Sterling said.
Ultimately, Sterling said it is most important to make sure people who may be affected by a resentencing law are aware that the law exists in the first place.
"The key thing, I think, is the ability for people to re-enter the economy and society free of those encumbrances," he said. "We would also say they are eligible to vote, they are eligible for jury duty, that all of their civil rights are restored."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday January 03 2018, @06:53PM (5 children)
Yeah, someone with an ax to grind wrote a book so we can all just stop arguing about the whole purpose of laws in general, right?
The purpose of setting up this elaborate convoluted scheme excluding all these people from employment and housing would be what?
We enjoy stepping over piles of human excrement dwelling in doorways and under overpasses while paying their medical bills and running soup kitchens because... Why?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday January 03 2018, @07:07PM (1 child)
The purpose of setting up this elaborate convoluted scheme excluding all these people from employment and housing would be what?
Really? You know the answer, stop playing dumb.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @02:59AM
No, I honestly think he doesn't understand. He seems to be a relatively decent person who is having trouble understanding the evil actions of others.
Racism and cultural warfare are real frojack, THAT is why the elaborate convoluted scheme was set up. War against the blacks and browns. Also, it funneled government money into prisons while increasing the overall power of white christians. Hope the clue bat didn't hurt too much!
(Score: 4, Informative) by MrGuy on Wednesday January 03 2018, @07:14PM
The PURPOSE? What was the purpose of segregation in the US? Apartheid in South Africa? The Rwanda genocide between Hutus and Tutsis?
People suck. They can, do, and will continue to hurt or diminish those who are unlike themselves for less than good reasons, because they can.
That doesn't mean that the assertion that that's what's happening in this case is CORRECT, or that any time someone claims "this is racist!" must be assumed to be true just because racism is a real thing.
But asking "why would anyone ever want to discriminate against someone different than themself?" as if it was an extraordinary thing to suggest MIGHT be happening is either naive or trolling.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @07:42PM
> The purpose of setting up this elaborate convoluted scheme excluding all these people from employment and housing would be what?
JFC, frojack [soylentnews.org], you made me wish there was a -1, Stupid moderation I could hang off your post. I'd school you, but others got in there first. Read the replies and learn from them.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:52PM
Why do we need to argue about it, when the people involved in coming up with the laws explained exactly why they did it?
Here's Harry Anslinger, the guy who first proposed making pot illegal in the US, said about why he wanted pot to be illegal:
"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
"The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."
John Ehrlichman, Richard Nixon's head of domestic policymaking, explained exactly why they were behind a major push in the early 1970's:
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.