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Massachusetts officials have unanimously approved the governor\u2019s proposal to pardon thousands of people with misdemeanor marijuana convictions<\/a> of their records. The relief is effective immediately.<\/p>\n The Governor\u2019s Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday to give consent to Gov. Maura Healey\u2019s (D) clemency plan that she announced last month. The record sealing process will be automated by the state for most eligible people.<\/p>\n Following the vote, the governor said in a press release that \u201cMassachusetts made history today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful to the Governor\u2019s Council for their due diligence in approving my request to pardon all state misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions,\u201d she said. \u201cThousands of Massachusetts residents will now see their records cleared of this charge, which will help lower the barriers they face when seeking housing, education or a job.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Marilyn Devaney said ahead of the vote that the Council is \u201csending a message that this administration believes in second chances, and I wish them all good luck who will benefit from this in their endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Eileen Duff said the move is \u201cimportant stuff for the body,\u201d adding that members want to \u201cmake sure we\u2019re always considering ways to make our criminal justice system more fair and more equitable.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2008, Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana. In 2016, we legalized it. \u2014 Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) April 3, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cHopefully, with today\u2019s action, it will affect thousands of people in Massachusetts who will no longer have a record for something that is now no longer illegal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The vote followed a 90-minute hearing<\/a> at which the Council discussed the pardon proposal, with testimony from legal experts, public safety officials and people impacted by cannabis criminalization. Nobody spoke out against the clemency action.<\/p>\n When she first proposed the pardons last month, the governor said it would impact \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of people with cannabis records, though the exact scope of the relief is unclear.<\/p>\n Massachusetts decriminalized low-level marijuana possession in 2008 and legalized adult-use cannabis in 2016, but the laws did not contain provisions for automatic expungements like those that were included in some other states\u2019 policies.<\/p>\n The governor on Wednesday again gave credit to President Joe Biden for his \u201cleadership on this issue\u201d with his own cannabis clemency actions.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud that Massachusetts was able to answer his call to action in this momentous way,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope that other states will follow our lead as we work together to make our communities more fair and equitable.\u201d<\/p>\n The Biden administration has been increasingly promoting both his pardons and marijuana scheduling review directive, signaling an understanding of the popularity of the issue in the lead-up to the November election.<\/p>\n The president touted the actions during his State of the Union address last month<\/a>, for example, as well as in a proclamation designating April as \u201cSecond Chance Month.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Vice President Kamala Harris also separately met with a group of cannabis pardon recipients at a White House event last month, where she also called on the Drug Administration (DEA) to reschedule marijuana \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d<\/a> In a closed-door portion of the meeting, she notably said \u201cwe need to legalize marijuana.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Back in Massachusetts, a joint legislative committee held a hearing last week to discuss an initiative that would legalize psychedelics<\/a> that may appear on the November ballot if lawmakers decline to independently enact it first.<\/p>\n The governor also filed a bill last year to create a psychedelics working group<\/a>\u00a0to study and make recommendations about the potential therapeutic benefits of substances like psilocybin and MDMA for military veterans.<\/p>\n Since Massachusetts first opened its adult-use cannabis market, licensed retailers have\u00a0sold more than $7 billion in legal medical and recreational marijuana<\/a>, according to the latest numbers from the state\u2019s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).<\/p>\n Missouri Budget Bill Would Fund Psilocybin Research With $10 Million In Opioid Settlement Money<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The post Massachusetts Officials Pardon Thousands Of People With Marijuana Convictions In Unanimous Vote On Governor\u2019s Clemency Proposal<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Massachusetts officials have unanimously approved the governor\u2019s proposal to pardon thousands of people with misdemeanor marijuana convictions of their records. The relief is effective immediately. The Governor\u2019s Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday to give consent to Gov. Maura Healey\u2019s (D) clemency plan that she announced last month. The record sealingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":73697,"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\/73696"}],"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=73696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73698,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73696\/revisions\/73698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Today,\u00a0thousands of people will have misdemeanor marijuana convictions pardoned from their record. Grateful to the Governor’s Council for approving my request. https:\/\/t.co\/WnBtO7rZ0J<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nRead More: Massachusetts Officials Pardon Thousands Of People With Marijuana Convictions In Unanimous Vote On Governor\u2019s Clemency Proposal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"