L.A. county to dismiss 60,000 past convictions

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L.A. County D.A. to dismiss 60,000 past marijuana convictions
L.A. County D.A. to dismiss 60,000 past marijuana convictions
James Queally
Mon, September 27, 2021, 10:14 AM
In this article:

Los Angeles Dist. Atty. George Gascón joins supporters at a rally outside the Hall of Justice in downtown L.A. in June. On Monday, he announced he was moving to dismiss roughly 60,000 marijuana convictions. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The nation's largest prosecutor's office is moving to dismiss roughly 60,000 marijuana convictions, the latest step to undo what some reform advocates consider the damage caused by narcotics enforcement carried out before Californians voted to legalize marijuana, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón announced Monday.

Under prior Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, the office moved last year to dump 66,000 marijuana convictions that took place before voters passed Proposition 64, the state law legalizing recreational marijuana use. But that list was compiled using information collected by the California Department of Justice, and Gascón said his office was able to identify tens of thousands more eligible cases by combing L.A. County court records.

“Dismissing these convictions means the possibility of a better future to thousands of disenfranchised people who are receiving this long-needed relief,” Gascón said in a statement. “It clears the path for them to find jobs, housing and other services that previously were denied to them because of unjust cannabis laws.”

Gascón has long championed efforts to reverse what he sees as the racially disparate and overly punitive impacts of the nation's war on drugs. While serving as San Francisco's top prosecutor, he sought the dismissal of nearly 9,000 felony and misdemeanor marijuana convictions that were processed before the passage of Proposition 64. As part of that effort, Gascón partnered with nonprofit tech organization Code for America, which developed an algorithm to analyze county data and identify cases eligible to be cleared under Proposition 64.

Approximately 20,000 of the convictions expected to be expunged under Gascón's Monday order were for felony possession or cultivation of marijuana, according to Jean Guccione, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County district attorney's office. The remainder were misdemeanors filed in jurisdictions that do not have their own city attorney's offices, she said. (snipped)

Granny

 

It's better than nothing, hon! A criminal record closes many doors to a better future.

And not Ohio, yet!

Granny

 

@SugarPistils I think nixon was afraid of cannabis because it made people THINK! And nixon didn't start the reefer madness, harry anslinger did in the 1930s!

Old harry was one of the government agents who enforced alcohol prohibition, but when alcohol prohibition ended, harry needed a new gig. Hyping "Marihuana, the weed with roots in hell" provided the substitute and fitted right in with harry's rabid anti-drug, pro-racism agenda.

Here's a few of old harry's quotes that he used to stir up the people against cannabis from the 1930s to 1960s-

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”

“Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men.”

“...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”

"By the tons it is coming into this country — the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms. ... Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him."

"Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

"Marijuana is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind. Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

Yet later (entering the Cold War years) anslinger flips on his decades of claiming cannabis causes violence, and says- "Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing."

More on harry- Harry J. Anslinger - Wikipedia

And if you want to spit on his grave- Harry Jacob Anslinger (1892-1975) - Find A Grave...

(FYI - the capitalization of a name is acknowledging them as a human being who is worthy of respect, and that they are not just an object or a thing.)

Granny