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).

Share:
More In Business
Biotech Startup Mycocycle Detoxifies Waste With Mushrooms
Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycocycle Inc., joined Cheddar News to discuss how her company uses mushrooms to decarbonize construction waste. "Mycocycle was started to address the waste mismanagement issue we have," she said. "Globally, we've got overflowing landfills that are creating human and environmental health issues."
The Most Important Job Skills Workers Should Know About
The World Economic Forum recently released its future of jobs report and broke down what abilities employers are looking for. Julia Pollak, chief labor economist at ZipRecruiter, joined Cheddar News to discuss what top, in-demand job skills are needed in the rapidly-changing economy.
What We Learned From Upfronts This Year Amid Writers' Strike
This year's upfront presentations to advertisers happened against the backdrop of a massive writers' strike. Cheddar News broke down the big takeaways from how networks proceeded with their events and what upcoming TV and streaming shows were presented.
Load More