(The Center Square) — As the Pennsylvania House considers marijuana legalization, legislators want to learn from the mistakes elsewhere as they try to remedy the mistakes of the past.
“If we’re gonna be talking about legalizing cannabis, regulating it, having it be something that is part of a beneficial economy to Pennsylvania,” said Rep. Rich Krajewski, D-Philadelphia, “part of that conversation has to be also how we correct the past wrongs of criminalization.”
As dozens of states have legalized recreational marijuana, more than a dozen states have done it hand-in-hand with broader reforms.
“Simply repealing the prohibition of cannabis is insufficient,” said Frank Stiefel, senior policy associate at the Last Prisoner Project. “The inclusion of criminal justice reform policies has become the standard for states.”
Resentencing policies, too, are becoming more common since 2020, he noted.
Stiefel argued for Pennsylvania to get proactive to help clear prisoners’ criminal records or resentence them and
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