Bipartisan Bill Would Clear Federal Marijuana Misdemeanor Records

Cannabis News World

Sep 29

Bipartisan Bill Would Clear Federal Marijuana Misdemeanor Records
High Times

American lives have been uprooted because of simple misdemeanor marijuana offenses—punishments for an activity that is now legal for various purposes in 38 states. But new legislation would provide the needed mechanism to help Americans clear low-level marijuana offenses at the federal level. Congressmen Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced The Marijuana Misdemeanor Expungement Act—bipartisan legislation that would create an expungement pathway for low-level violations of federal marijuana offenses. It would provide "an expedited, orderly process that clears the deck of non-felony marijuana offenses" in the federal system, according to a July 29 press release. Weldon Angelos, president of The Weldon Project, testified on behalf of decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level, and defended Americans suffering from the burden of past offenses on July 26 at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. His whole testimony can be read here. He also supported and helped to introduce the Marijuana Misdemeanor Expungement Act. Angelos explained how federal misdemeanor charges can have the same end result as a felony when it comes to the way records impact individuals. "One thing about the federal system is that there's absolutely no way to expunge a record, so basically a misdemeanor in the federal system functions like a felony because it stays on your record forever—unlike most of the 50 states which have some kind of mechanism to expunge a low-level possession cannabis offenes," Angelos tells High Times. "The federal system has nothing. So it stays on your record for life." pic.twitter.com/aQDaaw0c9Z— Weldon Angelos (@weldon_angelos) July 26, 2022https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Other similar bills have been introduced, but Angelos explained how the bills could potentially work together. Last December, Congressman Dave Joyce (OH-14), co-chair of the House Cannabis Caucus, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) introduced the Harnessing Opportunities by Pursuing Expungement (HOPE) Act. This bipartisan bill…