Marijuana Connections

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday the forgiveness and expungement of about 500,000 criminal cannabis cases. Pritzker said he issued pardons for 9,210 low-level cannabis convictions, while Illinois State Police have wiped clean more than 492,000 non-felony cannabis-related arrest records. The actions by Pritzker and state police is mandated by the Illinois law that legalized the licensed sale of marijuana starting in 2020. The intent of the law is to reduce the impact of the war on drugs on minorities, who were disproportionately arrested and locked up for cannabis crimes. “We will never be able to fully remedy the depth of that damage,” Pritzker said. “But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past and the decency to set a better path forward.” The law requires 47,000 cannabis-related arrest records created between 2013 and 2019 be expunged by Friday. With the expungement of all 492,129 cannabis arrest records, state police officials said they

Marijuana Possession Arrests on the Rise in 2010 In September, 2011 the FBI released of their annual Uniform Crime Report.  In the FBI 2010 Uniform Crime Report, statistics on cannabis related arrests, while certainly not surprising to those familiar with the marijuana debate, the lack of progress in creating just laws or modifying existing laws governing the manufacturing, distribution and use of marijuana in the United States continues to frustrate pro marijuana activists.  The number of arrests for marijuana related offenses in 2010 marks the second highest in United States history. Marijuana related arrests have been on the rise for decades.  So what's the big deal?  For supporters of pro marijuana legislation in the U.S., 2010 appeared to offer several rays of hope that laws surrounding the legal status of marijuana would actually be improved.  The Obama administration, for instance, announced that the War on Drugs was finally over, a "war" which consumed billi