The recently sworn-in governor of Pennsylvania says that he intends to prioritize expanding marijuana pardon opportunities, including by promoting resources in Spanish to reach more people with eligible convictions.<\/p>\n
In an interview with AL D\u00cdA, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was asked about the pardon project that launched under his predecessor last year through the state Board of Pardons (BOP).<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to build on that program. I want to see it continue. And I want to see more people be able to get help to earn a pardon as a result of it,\u201d he said, adding that he felt the initiative was \u201csomewhat confusing for people\u201d when it was rolled out under former Gov. Tom Wolf (D), which contributed to underwhelming clemency results.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt was hard for people to know if they qualified or not,\u201d Shapiro said in the interview, which was taped ahead of his inauguration and posted last week after he was sworn in. \u201cWe need to do a lot more in other languages, other than English, to ensure that everyone has the ability to know that this program exists. We\u2019ll put a lot more out in Spanish to ensure that we\u2019re reaching communities that have oftentimes been left behind in this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pardon project that Wolf and then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) led ultimately resulted in just over 200 acts of relief for those who applied<\/a>, even though thousands submitted applications seeking clemency.<\/p>\n That said, the prior administration did work proactively in other ways to facilitate relief, and by the end of his tenure, Wolf had about 2,540 total pardons under his belt<\/a>\u2014the most of any governor in the state\u2019s history\u2014with at least a quarter of those going to people with prior marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n Advocates are optimistic that Shapiro, who previously served as the state\u2019s attorney general, will continue that legacy as state lawmakers again seek to legalize cannabis this session.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the leadership of Austin Davis, my lieutenant governor, you\u2019ll see the marijuana pardons project take on even even more prominence in our administration,\u201d he said. \u201cMore people hopefully will qualify, more people will earn a pardon and more people will have this slate clean so that they can move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very strongly about this,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think what we need to do is build on the important work that Governor Wolf has done to clarify the rules, to clarify the process, to make it quicker and to be able to get more people the pardons that I personally believe they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n The new governor also supports broader legalization, and he made it a tenet of his gubernatorial campaign. But as it stands, it remains illegal to smoke marijuana in Pennsylvania, regardless of whether the person is 21 and older.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether the legislature is\u00a0prepared to act on cannabis in the new session<\/a>, however, especially given ongoing uncertainty about the makeup of the legislature, which saw Democratic gains in the House during the last election but complications in the weeks since. One Democratic member passed since Election Day, and two others have resigned to take other offices.<\/p>\n Marijuana policy also came up during an inauguration celebration for Shapiro<\/a> last week, with musicians discussing the issue and Wiz Khalifa at one point urging adults 21 and older to smoke cannabis despite ongoing prohibition in the state.<\/p>\n FDA Releases Final Guidance For Cannabis Drug Development As Advocates Await Hemp And CBD Rules<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Pennsylvania\u2019s New Governor Pledges To Expand Marijuana Pardons, Including By Promoting Resources In Spanish<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The recently sworn-in governor of Pennsylvania says that he intends to prioritize expanding marijuana pardon opportunities, including by promoting resources in Spanish to reach more people with eligible convictions. In an interview with AL D\u00cdA, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was asked about the pardon project that launched under his predecessorContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61041"}],"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=61041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61042,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61041\/revisions\/61042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Pennsylvania\u2019s New Governor Pledges To Expand Marijuana Pardons, Including By Promoting Resources In Spanish<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"