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The lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania is stepping up his push to get marijuana records cleared, promoting an expedited petition program that he hopes will provide relief to thousands of people negatively impacted by prohibition.<\/p>\n
In an interview with KDKA that aired last week, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications<\/a> to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment.<\/p>\n Thank you for having me on.<\/p>\n Get that stupid weed charge off your record for FREE. <\/p>\n \u2014 John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 17, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cI\u2019m a fervent believer in second chances. And one of the things I quickly discovered was that people\u2019s lives were just being ruined by these silly charges, and you have all this unnecessary review [to seal records],\u201d Fetterman, who chairs the state Board of Pardons, said<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a plant that\u2019s legal in many jurisdictions across America, and it\u2019s not a big deal, but you go through your life in many cases a convicted felon, and that excludes you from a lot of opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I developed an expedited review process that I encourage everybody to partake in.\u201d<\/p>\n There are about 20,000 marijuana-related cases in Pennsylvania each year, he said. And some eligible cases go back decades, including one case that recently went through the petition process where a man had a felony conviction on his record for possession of eight ounces of cannabis that dates back to 1975.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019ve got some stupid charge like that on your record, it doesn\u2019t cost anything to apply, and we can get that off your your permanent record,\u201d the lieutenant governor said. \u201cI don\u2019t care how conservative or how liberal you are politically. I don\u2019t think we as a society should be really damaging people\u2019s future for consuming a plant that is now legal in many jurisdictions\u2014and soon will be in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n As the chair of Pennsylvania\u2019s Board of Pardons, I\u2019ve been pushing + delivering expedited pardons for weed convictions. <\/p>\n Get your app here. For Free. \u2014 John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While both Fetterman and Gov. Tom Wolf (D) support mass expungements of cannabis convictions, he said that, right now, this is \u201cthe only way to free records.\u201d<\/p>\n But the official is optimistic about the prospect of future reform to both legalize marijuana in the state and provide an even more effective process to get past convictions sealed. He pointed to a legalization bill that was recently filed by a Republican lawmaker as an example of the \u201cevolution towards this\u201d and described the legislation\u2019s introduction as \u201ca quantum leap in acknowledging it.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, however, he\u2019s doing what he can to raise awareness about the expedited petition program under the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. People with non-violent marijuana convictions can apply for free on the board\u2019s website.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m lieutenant governor for a little over a year, and we want to get as many people free of these silly convictions and charges that are holding the record back,\u201d Fetterman said. \u201cThe application doesn\u2019t cost anything. You don\u2019t need an attorney. And our turnaround time is, right now, down to three to four months.\u201d<\/p>\n In May,\u00a0Wolf pardoned a doctor<\/a>\u00a0who was arrested, prosecuted and jailed for growing marijuana that he used to provide relief for his dying wife. That marked his\u00a096th pardon for people with cannabis convictions<\/a> through the Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, a lawmaker introduced a bill last month to\u00a0expand the number of medical marijuana cultivators<\/a>\u00a0in the state, prioritizing small farms to break up what she characterized as a monopoly or large corporations that\u2019s created supply problems.<\/p>\n Separately, bipartisan Pennsylvania senators said this month that they are introducing a bill to allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate<\/a> their own plants for personal use.<\/p>\n A much-anticipated bipartisan Senate bill to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania that has been months in the making\u00a0was formally introduced last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D) unveiled the nearly 240-page legislation months after\u00a0first outlining some key details<\/a>\u00a0back in February. It would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to 30 grams of cannabis, five grams of marijuana concentrate products and 500 milligrams of THC contained in cannabis-infused products.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Rep. Amen Brown (D) recently\u00a0announced his intent to file a reform bill<\/a>\u00a0that he\u2019ll be working on with\u00a0Sen. Mike Regan (R), who expressed his support for the policy change a day earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n Additionally, a separate pair of state lawmakers\u2014Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)\u2014formally unveiled a legalization bill they\u2019re proposing<\/a>.<\/p>\n While each measure generally seeks and end to marijuana criminalization by creating a regulated, commercial model for cannabis, there are some provisions that make each piece of legislation unique. For example, the proposals vary in how they would approach taxes, revenue and social equity.<\/p>\n While these recent moves to enact reform in the GOP-controlled legislature are encouraging to advocates, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R) recently tempered expectations, saying that there\u2019s \u201cno significant support for the legalization of recreational marijuana in the House Republican caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n Fetterman, who is running for U.S. Senate<\/a>, told Marijuana Moment in a recent phone interview that he\u2019s optimistic about the prospects of reform with these latest proposals, though he acknowledged that there may be disputes between legislators over how tax revenue should be distributed.<\/p>\n Wolf, for his part, has said that a bipartisan approach to legalization \u201cwould be a great thing. I think the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n Philadelphia voters also\u00a0approved a referendum on marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0this month that adds a section to the city charter saying that \u201cthe citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to pass legislation that will decriminalize, regulate, and tax the use, and sale to adults aged 21 years or older, of cannabis for non-medical purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolf\u00a0said earlier this year that marijuana legalization was a priority<\/a>\u00a0as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn\u2019t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.<\/p>\n The governor, who signed\u00a0a medical cannabis expansion bill in June<\/a>, has repeatedly called for legalization and\u00a0pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform<\/a>\u00a0since\u00a0coming out in favor of the policy in 2019<\/a>. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to\u00a0legalize marijuana through a state-run model<\/a>.<\/p>\n A survey from Franklin & Marshall College released this month found that 60 percent of Pennsylvania voters back adult-use legalization<\/a>. That\u2019s the highest level of support for the issue since the firm started polling people about it in 2006.<\/p>\n An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature last week<\/a>, apparently due to pushback by the state police association.<\/p>\n Mexican Senators Circulate Draft Marijuana Legalization Bill, With Vote Expected Within Weeks<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Pennsylvania\u2019s Lieutenant Governor Wants To Process As Many Marijuana Pardons As Possible Before Leaving Office<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania is stepping up his push to get marijuana records cleared, promoting an expedited petition program that he hopes will provide relief to thousands of people negatively impacted by prohibition. In an interview with KDKA that aired last week, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) said oneContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":51419,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51420,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51418\/revisions\/51420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Process only takes months <\/p>\n![\"🔜\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/1f51c.png\")
Get your application in ASAP https:\/\/t.co\/m2pYjZtANm<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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Agree. <\/p>\n![\"👇\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/1f447.png\")
https:\/\/t.co\/HNss9irz30<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/JFm8xfdq5n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania\u2019s Lieutenant Governor Wants To Process As Many Marijuana Pardons As Possible Before Leaving Office<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"