Marijuana Legislative Reform and Social Justice
On July 10, 2019, the Federal House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security discussed marijuana legislative reform.
Topics included racial and social equity. Other marijuana reform bills designed to expunge marijuana convictions and to remove social and economic barriers are currently making their way through the federal legislature. The Marijuana Justice Act Federal Bill HR 1456 includes not only federal decriminalization of marijuana, it also removes marijuana as a Schedule 1 Drug, offers expungement and creates a reinvestment fund to help the communities hit the hardest in the federal government’s War on Drugs.
Illinois’ new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, beginning in 2020, allows automatic clemency for convictions due to possession of up to 100 grams of cannabis. Those convicted with larger amounts, from 30 to 500 grams, can have the charges removed by petitioning the court. This new legislation will “physically destroy the records or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioners name from any official index or public record, or both.” Besides expunging the records of nearly 800,000 people, it includes social equity programs aimed to create new jobs and educational opportunities in communities disproportionately harmed by current marijuana policies.
New York state officials also plan to expunge more than 200,000 criminal records for marijuana possession. The bill was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on July 29. It will take effect in 30 days.
In Cincinnati, Reverend Damon Lynch III, owner of Have a Heart Cincy Dispensary recently spoke on “Medical Marijuana: A Social Justice Perspective” at the Lloyd Library and Museum. He and eight other African American investors are opening Have a Heart Dispensary in August, at 8420 Vine Street in Cincinnati. “If we don’t participate in this burgeoning industry when we’ve been subject to the worst penalties and just sit back and let others accrue all the wealth while we’ve done all the suffering, I would say shame on us,” Lynch told the Cincinnati Enquirer.