By Nick Hamilton | California

If you haven’t already heard, California legalized the use of marijuana at the beginning of the year.

The case and verdict have been reported time and time again. Something less reported, however, may prove equally important. Recently in San Francisco, District Attorney George Gascon announced that nearly 5,000 marijuana-related felony convictions will be reviewed, and the convicts will be re-sentenced.

The best part? The state will likely fully dismiss over 3,000 misdemeanor convictions.

Proposition 64, which legalized the drug in the State of California, states that people can possess six plants and one ounce of the substance. In San Francisco, this proposition had a 75% citizen approval rate. This was the highest of any county in California, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Let’s analyze this for a second: San Francisco is reviewing 8,000 cases of marijuana-related crimes. Also, they will likely throw out around 3,000 of them. In fact, it took 23 petitions to the city of San Francisco to act on this measure. Thus, each petition written will ultimately lead to the clearing of over 100 records.

Attorney Gascon spoke out towards the Department of Justice recently in regards to marijuana classification. They recently announced a desire to schedule marijuana as a class I narcotic, equal to heroin and above cocaine. (Quote from NPR)

“Every high school kid knows that that is B.S., right? But we continue to insist almost like marijuana is almost an existential threat. It’s hypocritical. It doesn’t really follow the reality of our country and it takes from the credibility of the entire criminal justice system.”

San Francisco dismissing these convictions basically says one thing to the Department of Justice. Essentially, it reaffirms the belief that federal prohibition on marijuana is an awful thing for this country. Thus, in order to further the principles of freedom, it’s about time to stop being so harsh on it.

(Image from capoliticalreview.com)