How is this giving them a fresh start when Maryland has taken away their career and livelihood by making marijuana legal?
Looking for votes?
It is my opinion that at this point in time, the only reason the feds are determined to keep marijuana illegal at their level, is so they can use its use against gun owners. They know that a great number of crusty baby boomers (not to mention subsequent generations) use the stuff AND own guns. I’m of that era, and while I’ve never so much as tried the stuff, and have no intention to ever do so, it is legal in an increasing number of states, and I think the feds are trying to figure out how to use that against Americans, without starting a revolution.
The devil is in the details. A lot of convictions for possession are the results of a plea bargain deal, with the defendant pleading guilty to evade the much more serious charges for which he was arrested.
Are we supposed to think that the MD officials have individually examined each of these pardons? Of course not. We are not supposed to think.
I don’t know the rules in MD, but I wonder if restoring voting rights prior to the election to a large number of baseline democrat voters might have been a factor.
dumping them on the street to insure dems hold MD
If they are pardoned, will that restore their voting rights?
Oh, would the #ComDem’s do something like that to win an election?
YES.
I applaud the governors pardoning low level offenders relative to the use of weed. I have a big problem with the fact that many convictions for the minor problem with weed is a plea bargain that reduced a major crime to a very small crime. If you smoke a little weed I do not care. If you are a lifetime criminal I do care.
Pardoning is one thing, not expunging the criminal record still keeps them entangled with the criminal justice system.
There is such an easy way to avoid all this. Just don’t use weed. Your life will be much better in all cases, no matter it’s legality