San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascón announced progressive news today that will greatly affect thousands of people currently sitting in jail. Since marijuana is now legal in California, the district attorney's office announced they will be "reviewing, recalling and resentencing up to 4,940 felony marijuana convictions and dismissing and sealing 3,038 misdemeanours which were sentenced prior to the initiative’s passage."
The office will also be adjusting convictions dated back to 1975.
"While drug policy on the federal level is going backwards, San Francisco is once again taking the lead to undo the damage that this country's disastrous, failed drug war has had on our nation and on communities of colour in particular," George said in a statement. "Long ago we lost our ability to distinguish the dangerous from the nuisance, and it has broken our pocketbooks, the fabric of our communities, and we are no safer for it."
Proposition 64 was passed in November of 2016 that legalized the use and personal growth of marijuana. California residents over the age of 21 can legally possess 28.5 grams of marijuana. It is illegal to drive while using and possess while on school grounds.