Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 03 2018, @10:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-am-the-law-Judge-Dredd dept.

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."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:13AM (1 child)

    by dry (223) on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:13AM (#617484) Journal

    Which raises the question of how legal marijuana is going to be/is regulated in the various States where it is legal/soon to be legal?
    Here (Canada), once it is legalized by the feds, the Provinces will be in charge of regulating it and each will be somewhat different. Where I am, it'll only be legally sold by licensed sellers, run much the same as liqueur. Just like it is illegal to make more then so much liqueur and illegal to sell it, the law will say that we can only grow 4 plants and can't sell it.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday January 04 2018, @08:56AM

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Thursday January 04 2018, @08:56AM (#617588)

    Which raises the question of how legal marijuana is going to be/is regulated in the various States where it is legal/soon to be legal?

    You can look at the various ways different states regulate the sale of alcohol for a clue. The end result will likely be a a horrendous mishmash of laws (I'm assuming that harsh penalties for possession/use/whatever remain in some jurisdictions) making the simple act of buying some pot for personal use wherever you are much more complicated than it needs to be.