Marijuana Arrests, Is Legal Weed Changing Sentences? [OPINION]

Who’s hurting?

In 2018, 608,775 people were charged with possession of marijuana. Marijuana convictions aren’t the majority of arrests, but they are not a minuscule number of lives affected by outdated laws. Times are changing and the majority of states, 33, have legalized medical marijuana. There are 22 states that have decriminalized marijuana and 11 where it is fully legal. The legalization of marijuana in any capacity is up to the government of the states, at the federal level weed is illegal. In order to build effective infrastructure around this burgeoning business marijuana needs to be legalized at a federal level, but more immediately weed shouldn’t be legalized in any capacity until all those incarcerated have been freed with their records expunged.

Unfortunately, the United States is one out of 22 different countries that does not ensure “retroactive ameliorative relief.” That is, relaxing sentences for crimes when the laws imprisoning people are relieved. Beyond that, if someone did serve their time and got out after the laws have changed their record will not be expunged. Despite public opinion possibly changing with the law a clean record can be a requisite for jobs, court decisions such as in custody cases, and aid applications among other things. Whether or not they broke the law at one point, the state has decided that their crime is no longer worthy of being a crime. Fighting these sentences can be a lengthy legal battle just to regain the same benefits that the rest of the public now enjoy.

How does it go beyond prisons?

It may be easy to argue that the people who broke the law when they knew the law deserve their punishment, but it’s a position that is inherently rooted in racism. There is a disproportionate amount of African-Americans to Caucasians incarcerated for marijuana-related charges. The relief, or current lack of, dramatically affects a community that is already being held back by societal prejudice and systematic discrimination pathos. This issue should extend beyond race, but it is also a strong incentive to create a more viable world for people to grow into, instead of seeing their friends and family being unjustly punished for laws that no longer exist, while other people have been given the chance to go free.

Privileges of business should extend to people.

As marijuana continues to be legalized, and people begin to make livelihoods off of an industry that has ruined the lives of so many it is time for the government to step in. While the federal government may be a nightmare of bureaucracy and ineffective policy, it also has a responsibility to create an equal and beneficial system for its citizens. It is only a matter of time that the spread of legalization becomes too large for the federal government to ignore. While the government may be treating these precedent-setting states as guinea pigs, it comes at the expense of the freedom and security of its people. The only way that an unstoppable industry can start out on the right foot is if those being imprisoned for marijuana-related crimes are given the same chances that everyone else in the country are going to be privilege to.