Add Washington state to the list of states that are ready to erase marijuana convictions.
Per HighTimes
Amid a flurry of rumors regarding his possible run for the White House in 2020, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced a limited program to pardon misdemeanor cannabis convictions stemming from 1998 to 2012.
“We shouldn’t be punishing people for something that is no longer illegal behavior in the state of Washington,” said Inslee on Friday morning at the annual Washington State Cannabis Summit, an event held by marijuana business interests.
The governor’s office estimates that some 3,500 people will be eligible for the pardons. But they must be looked over individually by Inslee’s staff first. A senior policy advisor to the governor attributed his support of the program to his concern over sweeping racism within the justice system related to drug convictions. A study by the University of Washington’s Alexes Harris and Katherine Beckett found that in 2006, Seattle’s drug arrest rate for Black people was 13 times higher than that of the city’s white population. Biased arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates have been tied to family separation and housing instability among Washington’s communities of color.