San Fran to expunge over 9000 cannabis convictions
March 1, 2019 at 10:48 pm
(This post was last modified: March 1, 2019 at 10:51 pm by EgoDeath.)
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/698045482...onvictions
All I can really say is it's about damn time. If, in 2019, you still believe cannabis does any more harm than alcohol or nicotine, I really don't even know what to say to you.
If anything, cannabis is the most relatively harmless psychoactive drug that exists. There's no reason for someone to be punished for enjoying a joint after work, just like someone shouldn't be punished for having a glass of wine or a cold beer after work. Hell, I'd rather see someone smoke pot and get behind the wheel of a car than get drunk and drive. Ideally, I'd rather drivers on the road be completely sober, but you understand what I'm getting at.
All in all, I'd love to see a society in the West that accepts cannabis for what it is: a relatively harmless way to relax and let loose.
It's ridiculous to see people arrested for cannabis and it's especially heinous when you consider that minorities are targeted more than any other group for cannabis possession; this likely stems from the days of 'reefer madness' where cannabis was said to give minorities super powers and make them flirt with white women and look at white men twice.
I think we need to see more of this. Arresting people is a total waste of law enforcement's time and an utter waste of tax payers' money.
Quote:San Francisco officials plan to expunge more than 9,000 marijuana convictions dating back to 1975, the city's highest law enforcement official said Monday.
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"It was the morally right thing to do," San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón told the Los Angeles Times. "If you have a felony conviction, you are automatically excluded in so many ways from participating in your community."
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Gascón said his office would expunge 9,362 felony and misdemeanor cases. That includes 1,230 his office had already cleared. Before the city started to comb through records to find those eligible to be cleared, only 23 people had petitioned the city to do something about their convictions, NPR reported last year. That's because the process was tedious, Gascón told NPR's Ari Shapiro.
All I can really say is it's about damn time. If, in 2019, you still believe cannabis does any more harm than alcohol or nicotine, I really don't even know what to say to you.
If anything, cannabis is the most relatively harmless psychoactive drug that exists. There's no reason for someone to be punished for enjoying a joint after work, just like someone shouldn't be punished for having a glass of wine or a cold beer after work. Hell, I'd rather see someone smoke pot and get behind the wheel of a car than get drunk and drive. Ideally, I'd rather drivers on the road be completely sober, but you understand what I'm getting at.
All in all, I'd love to see a society in the West that accepts cannabis for what it is: a relatively harmless way to relax and let loose.
It's ridiculous to see people arrested for cannabis and it's especially heinous when you consider that minorities are targeted more than any other group for cannabis possession; this likely stems from the days of 'reefer madness' where cannabis was said to give minorities super powers and make them flirt with white women and look at white men twice.
I think we need to see more of this. Arresting people is a total waste of law enforcement's time and an utter waste of tax payers' money.
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.