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More than 3,500 people applied for pardons for past cannabis convictions as part of a one-month Pennsylvania initiative spearheaded by the governor and lieutenant governor, a top state pardons official told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A final push from lawmakers and advocates drove about 1,000 applications in the final day of the program alone as last week\u2019s deadline approached.<\/p>\n
The application window for the expedited relief program, which was facilitated by the state Board of Pardons (BOP)<\/a>, closed on midnight on Friday. Officials like BOP Secretary Celeste Trusty stepped up their push to encourage people to apply<\/a>, emphasizing the simplicity of the process.<\/p>\n As of Thursday of last week, about 2,500 people had submitted applications through the PA Marijuana Pardon Project. That jumped to \u201cjust over 3,500\u201d by the end of the next day, Trusty wrote in an email to Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), a reform advocate who chairs the pardons board, told Marijuana Moment in a statement on Wednesday that the body is \u201cthankful for everyone who applied, and hopeful for better lives for those whose pardons are granted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this effort reached a small portion of people affected by marijuana prohibition, the only lasting relief will come when our Republican legislature finally decides to do the right thing and legalize it,\u201d Fetterman, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, said.<\/p>\n People with certain cannabis convictions involving up to 30 grams of marijuana or eight grams of hashish were eligible for the streamlined program.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of people who applied for relief under the PA Marijuana Pardon Project highlights how critical it is for our leaders to address the harm that continued criminalization of marijuana has heaped onto our communities,\u201d Trusty told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cToo many people live with the burden of a criminal record for doing something most of us don\u2019t even think should be a crime,\u201d she said. \u201cPennsylvanians from across the Commonwealth will be able to better their lives through the PA Marijuana Pardon Project\u2014 and what benefits one community member, benefits us all as a larger community.\u201d<\/p>\n Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and Fetterman have been vocal advocates for ending cannabis criminalization in Pennsylvania and replacing the policy with a system of regulated adult-use sales. But with the legislature stalling on cannabis reform, the administration has said it would do what it can in the interim.<\/p>\n Fetterman previously said that he wants to process cannabis clemency<\/a>\u00a0for as many people as possible before leaving office.<\/p>\n While pardons represent full forgiveness for the conviction, the governor\u2019s office stressed that eligible people will still need to separately petition the courts to have their records formally expunged.<\/p>\n Trusty, Fetterman and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately talked about marijuana reform and the pardon program<\/a> during the 5th annual Cannabis Opportunities Conference in Pennsylvania late last month.<\/p>\n Fetterman said that \u201cPennsylvania is a place for a second chances\u201d and the initiative would \u201chelp people get pardons quickly for stupid weed convictions\u201d while the legislature stalls on legalization.<\/p>\n A poll released last month found that two in three Pennsylvania voters say they support marijuana legalization<\/a>, which should be welcome news for Fetterman as his GOP Senate opponent levies attacks\u00a0over the candidate\u2019s support for drug policy reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also last month, President Joe Biden and Fetterman\u00a0briefly discussed marijuana policy reform<\/a>\u00a0during a meeting near Pittsburgh on Labor Day.<\/p>\n Wolf, meanwhile, signed\u00a0a medical cannabis expansion bill last year<\/a>, and he\u2019s 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>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Last year,\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>\u00a0through an ongoing Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses.<\/p>\n In the Pennsylvania legislature, a Senate committee held\u00a0the last of three scheduled hearings on marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0in March, taking testimony meant to help inform a reform bill that the panel\u2019s chairman said he was actively drafting.<\/p>\n Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs the committee,\u00a0circulated a cosponsorship memo last year<\/a>\u00a0along with Rep. Amen Brown (D) to build support for the policy change.<\/p>\n Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Street\u00a0separately filed a legalization bill last year<\/a>,\u00a0as did Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)<\/a>. But neither cleared the legislature by the end of the session.<\/p>\n New FBI Marijuana Arrest Data Riddled With Inconsistencies As Agency Touts Changes To Reporting System<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post More Than 3,500 Pennsylvanians Apply For Marijuana Pardons Under Governor\u2019s Expedited Relief Program<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
More than 3,500 people applied for pardons for past cannabis convictions as part of a one-month Pennsylvania initiative spearheaded by the governor and lieutenant governor, a top state pardons official told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. A final push from lawmakers and advocates drove about 1,000 applications in the final dayContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":57353,"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\/57352"}],"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=57352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57354,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57352\/revisions\/57354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: More Than 3,500 Pennsylvanians Apply For Marijuana Pardons Under Governor\u2019s Expedited Relief Program<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"