San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said that his office was in the process of reviewing thousands of marijuana-related criminal convictions, and would be dismissing many of those convictions in the coming weeks.
San Francisco's District Attorney says his office will toss out or reduce thousands of criminal convictions for marijuana dating back decades.
Since 1975, nearly 8,000 people have been convicted of marijuana-related crimes in San Francisco. But, now that pot is legal in California, D.A. George Gascon says those convictions no longer make sense.
NBC Bay Area explained that 5,000 people have already applied to have their records changed which is a fraction of who is eligible.
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Laura Thomas, deputy state director for the pro-marijuana organization Drug Policy Alliance, estimated more than 100,000 people are eligible to have their records changed.
District Attorney Gascon said his office will dismiss almost 3,000 cases of the 5,000 they have reviewed so far. San Francisco is not the only municipality to announce big changes as a result of California’s new marijuana laws. San Diego’s DA Summer Stephan announced that her office has already reduced hundreds of felony convictions to misdemeanors so far and will continue to do so, as they have thousands still to review.
Stephan said her office has discovered roughly 4,700 cases dating back to 2002 that may be eligible for a re-designation or dismissal.
Previous felonies, such as possession with intent to sell and transportation of marijuana, are now misdemeanors under the new legislation.
Stephan says the top of the list are people currently incarcerated as they should be dealt with first and foremost. A lot of money and resources will need to be put into these efforts around California, but it is the least we can do for people who have been deemed criminals for doing something most Americans do not consider particularly criminal.