{"id":56540,"date":"2022-08-12T12:25:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T20:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/federal-marijuana-bill-isnt-enough-to-fix-drug-wars-harms-without-state-action-naacps-legal-arm-says\/"},"modified":"2022-08-12T20:45:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T04:45:28","slug":"federal-marijuana-bill-isnt-enough-to-fix-drug-wars-harms-without-state-action-naacps-legal-arm-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/federal-marijuana-bill-isnt-enough-to-fix-drug-wars-harms-without-state-action-naacps-legal-arm-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Marijuana Bill Isn\u2019t Enough To Fix Drug War\u2019s Harms Without State Action, NAACP\u2019s Legal Arm Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

In a new review of the nation\u2019s cannabis laws, a leading racial justice nonprofit is urging voters to turn out in Maryland<\/a>, South Dakota<\/a> and other states where legalization will be on the ballot this fall.<\/p>\n

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) says waiting on Congress for federal reform isn\u2019t enough to redress the racist harms of the drug war.<\/p>\n

While hopes are high for the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA)<\/a>, a federal legalization bill filed last month by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats, the legislation still faces long odds. And even if it becomes law, it wouldn\u2019t provide relief for most people with cannabis convictions, because the majority of those convictions are at the state level.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal cannabis decriminalization and expungement does not impact individuals who have been convicted under state cannabis laws,\u201d writes Simeon Spencer, a former researcher and operations associate for NAACP LDF\u2019s Thurgood Marshall Institute. \u201cTo adequately redress the racial inequalities entrenched in policy around cannabis, both state and federal governments must act.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In 2018, 89% of people federally sentenced on cannabis charges were people of color. <\/p>\n

The War on Drugs fueled mass incarceration, and racist drug policies continue to harm Black Americans. Efforts to legalize cannabis must include record expungement.https:\/\/t.co\/xpOBmTrMVW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) August 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Spencer\u2019s analysis, \u201cRedressing America\u2019s Racist Cannabis Laws,\u201d is both a call to action and a primer on the history of cannabis in the United States. The drug was widely advertised for health purposes as early as the mid-1800s but cannabis was made federally illegal in the 1930s due largely to fear of Mexican immigrants and Black cultural movements such as jazz that were stoked by federal officials such as Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics..<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend toward criminalization occurred later in U.S. history\u2014and stemmed from racism and xenophobia,\u201d Spencer writes<\/a>. Individual states began banning the plant shortly after scare stories about immigrants from Mexico smoking marijuana were perpetuated by the media at the turn of the century.<\/p>\n

Not only was the drug war motivated by racism, but its enforcement has almost universally fallen along racial lines. Black people are roughly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than white people despite similar rates of use, the paper notes. And in 2018, 89 percent of the more than 2,000 people sentenced on federal cannabis charges were people of color.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, many Black Americans continue to sit in jail under mandatory life sentences,\u201d the NAACP LDF post says, \u201cwhile the legal pot industry (run primarily by white men) is projected to bring in $45 billion in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legalization alone doesn\u2019t right the drug war\u2019s past wrongs, Spencer makes clear, but it is \u201ca first step in the reimagination of punitive drug policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that the herculean efforts to instill racism and disinformation into drug policy will not easily be overcome,\u201d the paper says. \u201cAn equally great effort must be made to remedy these harms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Racist cannabis policies have targeted Black Americans and fueled mass incarceration for decades. Cannabis legislation is a first step in reimagining punitive drug policies. Now, ballot initiatives give voters a chance to remedy some of these harms. https:\/\/t.co\/xpOBmTrMVW<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) August 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Expunging and sealing past cannabis convictions are key steps to help address the disproportionate effects of the drug war\u2019s enforcement, NAACP LDF says. Those convictions often stand in the way of securing housing, jobs or education.<\/p>\n

But not all state legalization measures contain provisions to expunge state charges.<\/p>\n

Spencer\u2019s paper gives the example of Virginia, which legalized cannabis through the state legislature last year. The legislation at first included language to expunge past marijuana convictions, but lawmakers didn\u2019t include that provision in their final bill.<\/p>\n

In Oklahoma this November, voters may consider two opposing cannabis ballot initiatives<\/a>. Spencer writes: \u201cSome groups who would otherwise be sympathetic to recreational cannabis legalization oppose Question 820 because it doesn\u2019t address expungement\u2014which is addressed in another potential ballot initiative, Question 819.\u201d (Question 820 does include an expungement provision does not allocate specific funds to support the process. The section of Question 819 that included the expungement provision appears to have been struck down in court<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s upcoming legalization ballot measure<\/a>, meanwhile, would automatically expunge convictions for conduct made legal under the proposed change, and people currently serving time for such offenses would be eligible for resentencing. The proposal also makes it so people with convictions for possession with intent to distribute could petition the courts for expungement three years after completing their sentence.<\/p>\n

South Dakota\u2019s ballot measure makes no mention of expungement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the country waits to see whether Congress will act at the federal level, it\u2019s critical that voters simultaneously make their voices heard on these ballot initiatives in November,\u201d Spencer writes. \u201cThough these votes do not undo the harmful legacy of cannabis policy, they are a strong foundation from which citizens can advocate for more comprehensive solutions, including expungement, treatment, and recovery programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Voters Across Wisconsin Will See Marijuana Questions On Their Ballots In November<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Federal Marijuana Bill Isn\u2019t Enough To Fix Drug War\u2019s Harms Without State Action, NAACP\u2019s Legal Arm Says<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Federal Marijuana Bill Isn\u2019t Enough To Fix Drug War\u2019s Harms Without State Action, NAACP\u2019s Legal Arm Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a new review of the nation\u2019s cannabis laws, a leading racial justice nonprofit is urging voters to turn out in Maryland, South Dakota and other states where legalization will be on the ballot this fall. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) says waiting on Congress for federalContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"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\/56540"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56541,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56540\/revisions\/56541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}