“At a time when most Americans want to end marijuana prohibition and nearly a majority of people now reside states where cannabis is legal, it makes no sense to continue punishing adults and robbing them of the opportunity to fulfill their potential for behavior that in many cases is no longer a crime.”
State lawmakers have advanced several priority bills to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk and a few more remain pending but are up against a tight timeline. The legislative session in California ends on August 31st. Any bills not transmitted to the Governor will die after that date. (Once advanced to the Governor, he has 30 days to act on the bills.)
While granting clemency to nine individuals for federal marijuana offenses is the right thing to do, it is woefully inadequate when there remain over 10,000 individuals who still suffer under the weight of a federal charge on their criminal record.
“Despite the obvious will of the voters, Gov. Noem is intent on perpetuating the failed policies of the past. People with otherwise clean records do not deserve to have rest of their lives to be derailed because of a marijuana possession conviction.”
Here is NORML’s weekly update on pending state legislation with helpful links to action alerts.
Legislation would incentivize state and local governments to expunge the criminal records of tens of millions of Americans who have previously been convicted of marijuana offenses.
State legislators in 2021 enacted over 50 laws liberalizing marijuana policies in more than 25 states.
333,886 simple marijuana possession conviction records were previously sealed after the state enacted a measure in 2020 to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession offenses.