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    Cash for cannabis plant

    Marijuana Advocates, Industry 'Deeply Disappointed' After Reforms Left Out of Spending Bill

    "Democrats' failure and the GOP's continued resistance to any progress is out of step with voters' opinion, is bad politics, and most importantly, it is bad public policy," said one critic.

    Jessica Corbett
    Dec 20, 2022

    Despite high hopes for the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House, negotiators on Capitol Hill yet again failed to deliver even modest cannabis reforms in the 4,155-page omnibus government spending legislation released early Tuesday.

    "Marijuana businesses, the hundreds of thousands of people they employ, and the millions of Americans that patronize them will continue to be at a higher risk of robbery."

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    Politics
    Gov. Kate Brown

    Oregon Governor Pardons 45,000 Marijuana Offenders in Bid to 'Right the Wrongs' of Failed Drug War

    "No one deserves to be forever saddled with the impacts of a conviction for simple possession of marijuana--a crime that is no longer on the books in Oregon," outgoing Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said.

    Brett Wilkins
    Nov 21, 2022

    Declaring her intent to "right the wrongs of a flawed, inequitable, and outdated criminal justice system," outgoing Democratic Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday pardoned tens of thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana offenses.

    "Oregonians should never face housing insecurity, employment barriers, and educational obstacles as a result of doing something that is now completely legal."

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    cannabis

    Biden's Marijuana Plan Is Good, But More Must Be Done

    Whether or not this is the beginning of the end for punitive marijuana laws remains to be seen.

    Jesse Mechanic
    Oct 16, 2022

    Last week, President Joe Biden--a driving force behind the 1994 crime bill which accelerated mass incarceration in America--announced a three-step plan for marijuana reform which began with a pardon for "all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents who committed the offense of simple possession of marijuana." The pardon is a welcome development for those invested in dismantling the carceral state. But a closer look at the limits of the plan's impact reveals that much more still must be done to achieve justice around the issue of marijuana laws.

    According to the White House there isn't currently anyone in federal prison for simple marijuana possession, so the plan will primarily involve expunging records rather than releasing those serving sentences. And while the pardon will reportedly benefit an estimated 6,500 people, nearly 400,000 people are currently locked up for drug offenses, and hundreds of thousands of others have been released with damaging criminal records impacting their day-to-day lives. The pardon does not apply to those convicted of selling marijuana, for example--a much larger group--even though marijuana is now a legal, multibillion-dollar business operating in 19 states with five more on the ballot in 2022. The pardon also explicitly states that it "does not apply to individuals who were noncitizens not lawfully present in the United States at the time of their offense."

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