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By Associated Press
SEATTLE – More than six years after the legalization of marijuana use by adults, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced Friday that he was considering pardoning thousands of people convicted of possession for small hours – the latest in a series of measures taken by states and cities to ease the burden of minors for using a minor criminal record for using marijuana.
announcement at a top of the cannabis industry at SeaTac, south of Seattle. Inslee said it was creating an expedited process that would allow approximately 3,500 people to seek and be pardoned without having to hire a lawyer or go to court.
"We have people who have this burden on a single, single possession of marijuana maybe 20 years ago, which prevents people from living their lives," Inslee said during an interview . "It can hurt their ability to get financing for a home, and it can also affect their ability to get funding for colleges, even for simple things like going out on the field with their children.
"We should not punish people for something that is no longer illegal," he said.
Several states allow deportation or sealing of marijuana convictions, but such a remedy is usually expensive, requiring the appearance of a lawyer or an appearance in court.More and more states have relaxed the marijuana laws or followed Washington and Colorado legalize the use of the pot for purposes since 2012. Some cities, counties and states have simplified the conviction process.
Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and some local attorneys in New York, where marijuana remains Equally, are being cleared old convictions for marijuana en masse, and a new law in California requires prosecutors to clear or reduce about 220,000 convictions for pots.
Inslee's plan seems to be the first to have been created. A simplified process to pardon marijuana convictions for state-level crime, although Michigan's elected governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, has suggested she plans to do so. In Washington, people will be able to use a simple form on the governor's website to ask for an amnesty from a date dating as far back as 1998.
To be eligible, a person must have been sentenced to adulthood and their conviction must be the only one on their record.
Advocates of marijuana law reform welcomed Inslee's action, while claiming that she could have gone further. They pointed out that people would only be eligible for one conviction, so people who have more than one would be subject to the traditional leniency requirements.
Clear previous convictions or facilitate pardon is a matter of racial justice, considering that blacks and other minorities have always been arrested for possession of marijuana at disproportionate rates, said Kristen Clarke, president of the Committee of Lawyers for Civil Rights under the law.
"The governor sends a strong message about the steps to be taken to remedy these injustices," Clarke said. "I hope that other states will follow the example of the governor."
Inslee cited racial justice as one of his motivations in launching the program, which he called the Marijuana Justice Initiative. He said that his office did not have data on the number of minorities eligible for pardon, out of 3,500 people. He felt that it was wise to start by erasing a single conviction.
"Maybe there will be another step later on," he said.
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