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It actually was true and could still be. But at a state level. I was on a greyhound when I was young a long time ago. Ther3 was a young guy in a blue outfit. He asked me for a cigarette. He got caught with a small amount and did a year and a day. Meaning he went to the penitentiary.
For whatever reason his clothes were seized or destroyed. So they let him out in prison blues and gave him $50 or whatever it was. He was from out east and it wasn't enough to cover the bus fare home. So there he was In a greyhound station in prison blues begging for cigarettes and money to get home.
Certain states certainly did have no tolerance policies. He happened to get busted in Arizona.
I would think the fella had Priors.
Somebody always has some horror story about a guy, usually African-American or maybe a DeadHead who gets busted, usually in Dixie or the Sunbelt, for having a bit of grass, always some small amount.
What the guy did not tell you and what you never bothered to investigate was that probably had a criminal record composed of more serious offenses. He could have been on parole or on probation. Or he might have been telling you a tall fish story.
There are tons of these urban legends and people tend to fall for them hook, line, and sinker.
Somebody always has some horror story about a guy, usually African-American or maybe a DeadHead who gets busted, usually in Dixie or the Sunbelt, for having a bit of grass, always some small amount.
What the guy did not tell you and what you never bothered to investigate was that probably had a criminal record composed of more serious offenses. He could have been on parole or on probation. Or he might have been telling you a tall fish story.
There are tons of these urban legends and people tend to fall for them hook, line, and sinker.
Don't.
Oh please. I went to college in a small town on the east coast and know plenty of people that had to go to jail on state charges for small amounts that had no record. That particular state back then (late 2000s) seemed to delight in taking people to jail over small stuff, they even made driving over 80 miles an hour an arrestable offense, at the discretion of the officer.
Nowadays its certainly more lax, but there are plenty of pockets of the country where you can and will be taken to jail for any amount of marijuana.
I tend to think that with respect to Federal simple possession charges (which this pardon actually applies to), that is relatively rare compared with the frequency of state charges though. Only places you really would potentially get caught by Federal law enforcement would be places like National Parks and Federal roadways like certain parkways. I can't imagine its a huge number of people sitting in Fed prison because of that.
From what I just saw reported it doesn't affect a single person. That's ridiculous. I take back some of my earlier comments. I didn't think he would issue pardons that wouldn't even change things for one single person. What a lunatic.
Does this clear convictions from your priors record? That would still make a big difference in people's lives.
This isn't going to accomplish much. As already noted, simple possession is almost always prosecuted as a state crime, not a federal crime, and Biden's action on this impacts only a very small number of people. Only a few thousand, nationwide.
True. But Biden is hinting at pushing decriminalization.
Sadly, very few. Most people have NO CLUE that there's a HUGE difference between federal and state governments and therefore federal and state drug possession convictions.
There are states that are doing the same thing. I am fine with all 50 states pardoning all minor weed possession convictions.
Biden is trying to buy votes by turning America into sin city.
And I support it. Do it before you get voted out of office.
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