Re: Drug News and Discussions
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:19 am
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Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/president-b ... ion-65651(IFL Science) US President Joe Biden has announced a pardon for all individuals previously convicted of simple cannabis possession under federal law. While this doesn’t amount to legalization or decriminalization of cannabis in the US, the measure is likely to result in the expungement of around 6,500 criminal records.
“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” said the President in a statement. “Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities.”
For the record, the federal government very rarely prosecutes or incarcerates people for simple cannabis possession, and virtually all individuals currently in prison for this offense have been convicted by state laws. Federal pardons are therefore unlikely to directly result in anyone being released from jail, but will help thousands of people obtain jobs, accommodation, and other benefits.
Biden has called on all states to follow his lead and pardon all minor cannabis offenses within their jurisdiction. “I am urging all Governors to do the same with regard to state offenses,” he said. “Just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.”
Currently, recreational cannabis is fully legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, while medical cannabis is permitted in 37 states. However, many legal states have been slow to expunge the records of those with prior convictions, and the fact that cannabis remains illegal at the federal level means that people can still be prosecuted for possessing the drug anywhere in the US.
Read more here: https://www.npr.org/local/305/2022/10/ ... es-in-d-c(NPR) In making the move, which was announced as an executive order, Biden was also exercising the federal government's unique and sweeping power over D.C. While the president cannot pardon offenses under state law, he can under D.C. law — simply because it's not a state.
It remains unclear how many D.C. residents could be eligible for the "full, complete, and unconditional pardon." The number of people arrested for possessing marijuana in recent years is somewhat limited since it has been legal for anyone aged 21 and above to possess up to two ounces of marijuana for personal use since 2015.
Still, a 2013 report by the ACLU of D.C. found that D.C. police arrested almost 5,400 people for marijuana offenses in 2010 — an overwhelming majority of them Black. U.S. Park Police reportedly arrested more than 1,000 people for marijuana-related offenses between 2010 and 2012.
"Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit," Biden wrote in a statement announcing the order. "And while white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates."
In a statement, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was "grateful" for Biden's executive order, calling it a "significant step forward for our country, and one that better aligns policy with public sentiment."
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/nyre ... cense.htmlNew York took a significant step on Sunday toward launching a legal market for recreational cannabis by announcing the 36 businesses and nonprofits under consideration for licenses for the first retail dispensaries in the state.
The Office of Cannabis Management published the list of candidates ahead of a vote on Monday by its governing body, the Cannabis Control Board, that would ramp up the race to begin legal sales in the state despite a legal challenge to the licensing program. Regulators also released 282 pages of draft regulations laying the foundation for the broader market.
The candidates, who were chosen from a pool of 903 applicants, are mostly businesses owned and controlled by people who have been convicted of cannabis-related offenses or their close relatives, as well as a few nonprofits that serve people with histories of arrest or incarceration. All the listed finalists are expected to be approved during Monday’s vote.
The licensing effort was designed to help the state meet its goal of prioritizing people in communities heavily targeted during the war on drugs, for opportunities in the legal cannabis industry. Like the rest of the country, marijuana prohibition in New York mostly swept Black and Latino residents into the criminal justice system despite similar levels of use across all races.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday that she is issuing a pardon for Oregonians who have been convicted of simple possession of marijuana. The pardon is for people convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana, in pre-2016 cases, in which the person was 21 years or older. Brown’s pardon applies in cases where possession was the only charge, and there were no victims.
The pardon will remove 47,144 convictions for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, and will impact approximately 45,000 people, her office said. The move will also forgive more than $14 million in fines and fees associated with the offenses.
The government is poised to allow the use of medical marijuana to treat patients with intractable diseases, according to the outline of bills revealed on Tuesday.
The government is considering submitting the bills including one to revise the Cannabis Control Law during the current Diet session.
The proposed revision would also criminalize the use of marijuana.
In countries including the United States and Britain, medicine made from cannabis plants is used to treat patients with intractable epilepsy and other diseases for which existing drugs are ineffective.
Cannabis plants contain a substance that has an intoxicating effect, which is one of the reasons why the use of marijuana in medicine is prohibited in Japan. The proposed revision would enable such patients to use drugs made from cannabis plants.