More states took steps in 2019 to legalize or decriminalize marijuana and expunge related convictions from people’s criminal records.Still, more than a third of the 1.6 million arrests for drug offenses in 2018 in the United States were for possession of marijuana.Meanwhile, two cities are leading the effort to decriminalize another drug: natural psychedelics, which are gaining acceptance for their medical and therapeutic value.
Three states—Hawaii, New Mexico, and North Dakota—voted to decriminalize marijuana in 2019, removing the threat of jail time for those caught in possession of small amounts.And in June, the Illinois General Assembly voted to legalize recreational marijuana, joining 10 other states, plus the District of Columbia, that have such laws on the books.Illinois, which had already legalized medical marijuana on a temporary basis in 2014, approved cannabis sales and possession for adults 21 and older, although cities and counties can still prohibit sales on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis.
One issue intrinsically connected to the criminalization of marijuana use is race. The criminal justice system has historically unfairly targeted people of color in marijuana enforcement efforts.On average, a Black person is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates.Acknowledging this biased history, Illinois agreed in its new law to give cannabis-vendor preference to owners from racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as those who have been impacted by past enforcement, and mandated that 25 percent of tax revenue from marijuana sales be used to redevelop impoverished communities.The move was cause for cautious optimism; Black entrepreneurs have worked nationwide to increase minority participation—and eliminate discrimination—in the burgeoning marijuana industry, joining together to launch Real Action for Cannabis Equity (RACE), in September.(In Massachusetts, for example, all but two marijuana business licenses have gone to white people.)However, on the eve of the law’s implementation, every license in the Chicago area had been granted to a white licensee, causing community leaders such as the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus to attempt to delay local rollout by six months to give Black applicants a chance to obtain licenses as well.
The Illinois law also includes provisions to clear people’s past convictions for certain marijuana offenses. Those who currently have criminal records for purchasing or possessing 30 grams (about an ounce) of marijuana or less—estimated to include nearly 800,000 people across the state—will have those records expunged.To make the expungement process easier, Cook County, Illinois, announced in August that it would be teaming up with the nonprofit Code for America to use software that can automatically identify and process the eligible records and then generate paperwork for filing those expungements with the court—which can save time and money for both the state and the people whose records are being cleared.The use of software to automatically expunge records is gaining steam; San Francisco was the first jurisdiction to complete an automatic expungement, clearing more than 8,100 marijuana-related convictions in February.San Francisco had only been able to complete 1,230 expungements manually in the prior year.
The Illinois law contains additional provisions making nonviolent crimes involving possession of under 30 grams of marijuana eligible for automatic pardon, and those involving possession of 30 to 500 grams eligible for pardon only if a person petitions the courts.On New Year’s Eve, one day before the law went into effect, Governor Pritzker pardoned more than 11,000 of the approximately 116,000 people estimated to be affected.
New York State attempted to fully legalize marijuana this past year (it had already legalized medical marijuana in 2014), but the bill could not garner enough support in the state Senate.Instead, in June, the legislature passed a bill decriminalizing the possession of marijuana—treating possession of up to two ounces as a violation, instead of a crime, punishable with fines between $50 and $200—and, like Illinois, agreed to automatically expunge records of low-level marijuana convictions, affecting about 160,000 people.
Also in June, Texas lawmakers legalized hemp—a popular ingredient in clothing, twine, and protein powder, as well as cannabidiol, known as CBD.Although both hemp and marijuana plants are the same species—Cannabis sativa—hemp describes strains of the plant that appear identical to marijuana but have a low or unmeasurable THC content.Shortly after the law went into effect, and despite pushback from state leaders, district attorneys began dropping low-level marijuana possession charges and declining to pursue new ones because, they said, their labs didn’t have the capacity to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana.Police and prosecutors in Florida faced the same problem after the state’s law legalizing hemp went into effect in July.
State and local action on marijuana follows public opinion on this issue. Americans support marijuana legalization in record numbers. A Pew Research Center survey released in November found that 59 percent of Americans say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use; 32 percent say it should be legal just for medical use.Only 8 percent want to keep marijuana illegal in all circumstances.Thirty-three states—plus the District of Columbia—have legalized the drug for medical purposes.But despite a bill making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives at year-end, marijuana remains illegal under U.S. federal law—although most of the leading Democratic presidential candidates want to legalize it or, in the case of former Vice President Joe Biden, decriminalize it.
Marijuana was not the only drug making legislative news in 2019. Psychedelics have been banned under federal law since 1970, but two cities—Denver, Colorado, and Oakland, California—passed regulations this year decriminalizing the use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms and other natural psychedelics, which have been shown to help those battling depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction.
In May, Denver became the first city to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms after voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative.Although the policy does not legalize the mushrooms, it bars the city from arresting adults who possess them.Then, in June, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted to decriminalize “entheogenic plants”—plants and fungi that produce psychedelics traditionally used in spiritual practices.
Other jurisdictions are eyeing similar policies. Organizers in Oregon and California are circulating petitions to put decriminalization of psilocybin on the state ballot, and advocates in Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; Berkeley, California; and Dallas, Texas, are pushing various decriminalization measures involving psychedelics either through city council action or ballot measures.