{"id":7713,"date":"2018-02-02T13:43:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T21:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=7713"},"modified":"2018-02-02T13:45:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T21:45:01","slug":"san-francisco-shows-nation-way-forward-throwing-old-marijuana-convictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/02\/02\/san-francisco-shows-nation-way-forward-throwing-old-marijuana-convictions\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Shows Nation Way Forward by Throwing Out Old Marijuana Convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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February 01, 2018\u00a0<\/span><\/span>by Common Dreams<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“While drug policy on the federal level is going backwards, San Francisco is once again taking the lead to undo the damage that this country’s disastrous, failed drug war has had on our nation and on communities of color in particular.”<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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by\u00a0Jake Johnson, staff writer<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dave Warden, a bud tender at Private Organic Therapy (P.O.T.), a non-profit co-operative medical marijuana dispensary, displays various types of marijuana available to patients on October 19, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: David McNew\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n

Just weeks after a California measure legalizing the use of recreational marijuana went into effect, San Francisco District Attorney George Gasc\u00f3n\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday that the city will wipe clean the records of thousands of individuals who have been charged with marijuana-related misdemeanors and felonies over the past\u00a0several decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“There are millions of Californians with marijuana convictions on their record. Automatic expungement is neeeded to truly repair the drug war’s harms.”
\n\u2014Jag Davis, Drug Policy Alliance<\/p>\n

“While drug policy on the federal level is going backwards, San Francisco is once again taking the lead to undo the damage that this country’s disastrous, failed drug war has had on our nation and on communities of color in particular,” Gasc\u00f3n said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday, alluding to the\u00a0Trump administration’s recent announcement<\/a>\u00a0that it will rescind federal policy that allows Americans grow, sell, and use marijuana in states where it’s legal.<\/p>\n

Noting that California’s new marijuana law allows citizens to petition courts to have their convictions tossed or reduced, Gasc\u00f3n notes that the process can be expensive and time-consuming.<\/p>\n

“A criminal conviction can be a barrier to employment, housing, and other benefits, so instead of waiting for the community to take action, we’re taking action for the community,” Gasc\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

San Francisco’s decision to retroactively apply\u00a0Proposition 64<\/a>, which was approved by voters in November 2016, was immediately applauded as a massive “step forward<\/a>“\u2014one that must be replicated throughout California and in other states that have legalized marijuana in order to “truly repair the drug war’s harms.”<\/p>\n

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 01, 2018\u00a0by Common Dreams “While drug policy on the federal level is going backwards, San Francisco is once again taking the lead to undo the damage that this country’s disastrous, failed drug war has had on our nation and on communities of color in particular.” by\u00a0Jake Johnson, staff writer… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7713"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7715,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7713\/revisions\/7715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}