Justice

NEW YORK – The Last Prisoner Project has launched 'A Time To Heal,' an advocacy campaign calling on President Biden to leverage his clemency power to commute the sentences of thousands of people unjustifiably incarcerated due to federal marijuana-related violations. The advocacy organization is also encouraging the President to issue grants to the tens of ...

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that San Diego County announced that nearly 26,000 people with felony cannabis-law violations on their records in San Diego County had them reduced to misdemeanors last month. Furthermore, 1,000 people with misdemeanor cannabis convictions had their cases completely dismissed, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sunday. An order ...

BOSTON – Massachusetts state legislature's decriminalization bill was introduced in the House by Representatives Liz Miranda and Mike Connolly with a virtually identical bill in the Senate by Julian Cyr. If passed, this bill would completely decriminalize all drugs and replace it with a civil fine system of $50, and even then it could be ...

Gov. Tom Wolf has signed off on 310 pardons, 69 of them impacting the lives of nonviolent cannabis law violators, whom criminal justice advocates say face a lifetime of for a crime that now is on a par with getting a traffic ticket in some jurisdictions across the state. Wolf signed the pardons last week, his office ...

In another example of shifting public perceptions, the Biden administration recently announced new guidelines stating prior cannabis use will no longer automatically disqualify potential political appointees to the Executive Office of the President. White House officials reportedly engaged in “intensive consultation with security officials” before deciding to waive a requirement for “Top Secret” clearance on ...

LOS ANGELES – Well-known Cannabis delivery platform, Eaze, became a household name due to their bright billboards placed on California roads and highways. The "Uber of pot," delivery service was launched in 2014 and was eventually backed with $166 million in funding.  Eaze the company is not implicated. Nor are Eaze a defendant in this ...

SACRAMENTO – Democrat State Senator Scott Wiener, of San Francisco, introduced a bill for California lawmakers on Thursday that would decriminalize substances such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT and mescaline in that state. California would be a huge boost to the ‘’decriminalization nature’’ efforts that are underway in states and local municipalities around the ...

PORTLAND – Repairing the harm from decades of inequity from the War on Drugs is the goal of the Cannabis Social Equity Act introduced this week by a coalition of legislators in the Oregon State Legislature. HB 3112 is the culmination of months of work led by former State Rep. Akasha Lawrence Spencer including numerous cannabis companies, the ...

HONOLULU – With Oregon leading the way in the decriminalization of drugs, other states are following suit. A state bill to legalize psilocybin treatment was introduced in the Hawaii Senate last Friday. If approved, SB 738 mandates Hawaii's Department of Health to set up treatment centers for the therapeutic administration of psilocybin and psilocin, Marijuana ...

PORTLAND – Oregon's new law Measure 110, passed last November decriminalized drugs in that state. Oregon reclassifies possession of small amounts of drugs (e.g. less than one gram of heroin, 40 units of LSD, or 12 grams of psilocybin) as a civil violation. For possession of slightly larger amounts of some drugs (such as one to ...

WASHINGTON – The change in Senate leadership means the increased potential for a number of policy areas to be addressed, including cannabis policy reform. With Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) now the first head of the upper chamber ever to publicly support ending federal marijuana prohibition, he’s made several commitments on multiple occasions to advance legislation to repeal the federal criminalization of ...

SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday announced her support for a measure to legalize recreational cannabis in New Mexico for adults aged 21 and older, an economic development driver that would create thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in revenue for needed public services all across the state. Lujan (pictured) reiterated ...

PHOENIX – Medical cannabis dispensaries can now get licensed for recreational cannabis licenses, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Voters passed Proposition 207 in November, legalizing the sale and possession of recreational cannabis in Arizona. The sale of recreational marijuana will be through establishments that already had a license for the sale of ...

Virginia takes one step closer to legalizing cannabis sales with new legislation proposed today by Gov. Ralph Northam in a meeting in Richmond's state capital. Backed by state Senators Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, the new laws allow people 21 and older to sell the drug starting on Jan. 1, 2023. Back in ...

Cannabis has evolved from being the Nixon-era’s scapegoat to a modern element of pop culture that’s becoming a vibrant, booming industry. Last year alone, we’ve generated tens of thousands of jobs, crime rates have plummeted, and we’ve established a new consumer culture less harmful than alcohol.    Yet, while America continues to become more progressive with ...