San Francisco isn’t the only city willing to wipe clean the records of those convicted of pot-related crimes.
District Attorney George Gascón says three different jurisdictions have approached his office for advice on how to make similar changes.
“Some people haven’t done the legal research [on the process],” he told Cheddar. “We started looking at this weeks ago.”
“The law says the petitioner has to hire an attorney, petition the court, have a court appearance...This is a tremendous burden on the community. We came to the determination we could do this ourselves, without anyone asking for it. We will save the communities hours of effort and funding.”
The San Francisco DA’s office said this week it would apply more lenient rules on marijuana possession to cases dating back to 1975. That means more than 3,000 misdemeanor sentences will be dismissed, and almost 5,000 felony convictions will be reviewed and possibly resentenced.
Gascón says it’s important the changes are applied retroactively.
“It makes no sense either morally or legally to have someone commit a crime December 31, 2017, in our case, and on January of 2018, that’s no longer a crime,” he said. “It makes no sense whatsoever. The whole idea of the war on marijuana around the nation is wrong-headed, and we need to move in a different direction.”
California became the largest state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana on January 1.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/other-cities-considering-following-san-franciscos-lead-in-clearing-marijuana-convictions).
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
Cheddar News' Need2Know is brought to you by Securitize, which helps unlock broader access to alternative investments in private businesses, funds, and other alternative assets. The private credit boom is here and the Hamilton Lane Senior Credit Opportunities Fund has tripled in assets under management in just six months from November 2022 through April this year. Visit Securitize.io to learn more.
Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have dropped below 7% for the first time since the middle of August.
Taylor Swift grossed nearly $2 billion this year, according to Billboard.
A study from US News and World Report has found the most affordable place to retire is in Ohio.
Millions of households could see higher internet costs next year as the affordable connectivity program could end.
