“This milestone reflects the reality that advocates have been engaged in a multi-decade long struggle to compel the federal government to acknowledge the obvious: that cannabis possesses therapeutic benefits. It also highlights the fact that the federal government’s ongoing refusal to do so has been strictly a political decision.”
State officials are set to begin providing financial reimbursements to hundreds of thousands of residents with prior convictions for the possession of marijuana and other controlled substances.
City officials report that there are no longer any open cases specific to marijuana possession pending before the Municipal Court.
“Judges have repeatedly ruled that it is the responsibility of federal lawmakers, not the courts, to repeal the federal prohibition of marijuana. Rather than expect relief from the federal courts, citizens need to continue to pressure their federally elected officials to repeal this admittedly ‘irrational’ and destructive policy.”
Just over 1,000 people were sentenced federally in 2020 for violating marijuana trafficking laws. That’s down 67 percent since 2016, and over 80 percent since 2012 – when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize and regulate the adult-use marijuana market.
Despite the enactment of adult use legalization with parental protections in place, consumers are still facing discrimination for legal marijuana use in court.
“Fairness demands that we suspend prosecution of marijuana possession-related cases while we await direction from the Legislature on the parameters for decriminalization of marijuana and legalization of regulated adult-use cannabis.”
“This result is not altogether surprising. It is Congress that imposed the federal prohibition of marijuana and ultimately it is up to Congress to repeal this destructive and discriminatory policy.”