> Often, he said, people who are arrested for marijuana possession also receive a related charge for paraphernalia — pipes or rolling papers, for example. That additional charge would have disqualified them from the project.

This is exactly why you should put the weed directly on your tongue and then rub two sticks together to light it.

Feel good legislature that does nothing for anyone

I'd like more data and less opinion. How many were denied because they had a charge for weed and a pipe vs how many were charged for having weed while robbing a liquor store? Prisoners have lots of time and very little hope in their lives, many probably applied who had no real chance. But, they should have written it to allow for additional charges. It's not like this just goes up against an algorithm, people review these, let them make the right decisions.

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Typical government, over promise, under deliver.

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Yeah, besides healthcare, infrastructure, ending the perpetual war in Afghanistan, freezing student loan repayment, voter rights and codifying same sex marriage protections, both parties are totally the same!

But....student loan forgiveness was rolling out and then they got sued...what do you want them to do? Checks and balances exist unfortuneately (or fortuneately depending on who you talk to in this case)

Makes the entire program useless then. 99% of the time you’re not ONLY getting charged with possession

I served 2 years on a two stick rap. I would suggest using a magnifying glass to ignite your tongue-weed.

Let's be clear about this whole program, which I take as very well-intentioned but the forces-that-be aren't letting this work.

There's nothing (N-O-T-H-I-N-G) preventing Gov. Wolf from issuing a pardon during these final days of his administration to every single individual convicted under Pennsylvania law for marijuana possession and/or consumption without forcing people to go through this process that exposes them to embarrassment, bureaucracy and inefficiency.

We can see how effective this program is from the Inquirer article posted above, and one a few days ago. 90% of applications have been tossed. Legitimately, some are likely situations where "I was charged with 835 counts of murder, terrorism, looking snidely at a nun and marijuana possession, so I should have everything expunged." That's not what Wolf or anyone intended, and it just gives FOX News another point to bitch about how the libs are ruining their pearly-white two-child straight-white-middle class picturesque utopia.

I'm happy Wolf thought of doing this. I'm pissed he chose a mechanism that's putting the burden on Pennsylvanians to beg our own fucking government for mercy when none should have been needed. He should have done better.

That being said, I'm hoping he realizes how fucked up this program turned into and takes action into his own hands. I've never found Wolf to be anything less than a decent, rational person and chalk this up to good intentions and government not living up to serving its citizens.

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I don't understand who set that rule... it says the governor cannot unilaterally issue pardons, but I thought the pardon power was fairly broad and unilateral?

And also, I thought this was interesting, too:

>But, Goldstein added, that narrowness in scope is the nature of executive pardons, whether they are gubernatorial or presidential. President Joe Biden’s marijuana pardon proclamation from October, for example, is similarly narrow, and only clears the records of people who were convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law from 1992 through 2021. That move affected about 6,500 people...

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Oh youre one of those...Ok ima keep it moving I dont argue with people who dont think the government can forgive government loans and people who think the majority of working americans shouldnt get a break. Sorry 👍

Anyone really believe the legislature would word the legislation to allow many to be eligible? Plus, they would never allow Wolf to have something that actually does something. Frankly, the wording would have been such that things like possessing rolling papers or matches or bongs or pipes would not disqualify someone from being eligible for the pardon.

>looking snidely at a nun

Were that unlawful, I'd be serving a life sentence.

Why are people ticked at Wolf for a crappy piece of legislation? The legislature writes the legislation, not the executive. He signed it. It was better than nothing. At least for those 250 lucky souls.

Plenty of actual hard working Americans most likely paid off their student loans because they worked hard to do so. The ones who obtained a bullshit degree with shitty wages are the ones wanting everybody else to pay it off for them.

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Which law are you referencing? The Marijuana Pardon Project referenced in the OP's article is not a law, it's an executive branch program.

https://www.palawhelp.org/resource/pa-marijuana-pardon-project

Pennsylvania's drug laws were passed by the legislature and signed by the governor at that time (not Wolf), if that's what you're meaning.

Publicity stunt!

At what point did the legislature have a hand in this executive project?

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Nah, up the ass it goes.

I have written to fetterman so many times on this subject I'm at the point where I refuse to give any more money until something is past that we all want we voted on it it passed so why is recreational marijuana not here in Philadelphia there is no excuse for this we all need to speak up

I am tired of the excuses it's 2023 almost this is just b*******

Good for them! Others, aka the majority of this entire country, will work their whole lives and never be able to pay it off or spend thousands paying interest instead of putting that money back into the economy. By the way, d you like going to your primary care doctor whenever you want? Do you like your child to have a pediatrician? Med school has the highest price tag of education and those specialties make shit salaries and they will spend their whole lives paying off upwards of 500k in loans. But yeah thats fine, lets keep increasing the price of education and decreasing wages across the board so that people will stop becoming doctors because theyre "bullshit degrees with shitty wages". Good luck when you or your child gets sick! Fuck the social workers, the teachers, the nurses, the professors, and 1000000 other degree holding workers that get paid nothing but are the backbones of our society. Its pretty easy to be empathetic, thats why you people surprise me EVERY TIME when you are vehemently against your fellow man.

For most issues like this the problem is too many people oppose you and vote for people who will vote as such. For this issue it's that one side doesn't care what their constituents want and vote against their base then never see consequences for it.

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I got 2 years in prison for 2 morphine pills. "multiple drug felonies" fuck you, stephanie shaffer vetterbeurg. and your multiple convictions.

i'll never do anything to "help" the "people" ever again. fuck them all.

I can't see the last word

Lol.

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Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Pennsylvania constitution requires that the Board of Pardons (a 5 member board that meets every so often at the state Capitol in Harrisburg) approve a RECOMMENDATION for a pardon (3/5 for regular pardon and 5/5 for commutation of life sentence) before the governor can approve the pardon. These applications must be made by the individual.

I was at a board of pardons meeting in 2019. On the board were LT Gov Fetterman, AG Shapiro, and three others that I could not remember their names And left my notebook from that day back home and I’m at college right now. But anyway, a bunch of people serving life made their cases (via their representatives) for why they deserve to be released early. Some were granted, most were not. And unlike what the PA GOP would want you to believe, LT Gov Fetterman voted no on a bunch (some of them, from the case made and testimony given definitely deserve a second chance like the woman who drove her friend to a drug deal gone wrong, she got denied by 2 votes, LT GOV Fetterman voted yes, while some don’t deserve to be free ever again like the man who murdered another man in cold blood over a dispute and tossed his body into the River, he got denied unanimously)

They'd still call it paraphernalia, like when a screw driver is considered a burglar's tool when stealing car.

Absurd 😡

Typical Wolf. Going to be replaced by another Anti-America MOB Member !

Biden Is Not a Legal President - Thank God !

"F" Philadelphia that got all Three Elected 😡. With SOROS'S Money.

It really is and honestly, a pack of Zig-Zag papers shouldn't carry any penalty whatsoever. It's just f'ing paper.

Not sure how readily available they are now, but when I was younger, you could just walk into any Giant Eagle grocery store or Rite Aid drug store and buy a pack. It's not like you were walking around with a 4-foot bong in your pocket.