In a new review of the nation’s cannabis laws, a leading racial justice nonprofit is urging voters to turn out in Maryland, South Dakota, and other states where legalization will be on the ballot this fall.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) says waiting on Congress for federal reform isn’t enough to redress the racist harms of the drug war.
While hopes are high for the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), a federal legalization bill filed last month by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats, the legislation still faces long odds. And even if it becomes law, it wouldn’t provide relief for most people with cannabis convictions because the majority of those convictions are at the state level.
“Federal cannabis decriminalization and expungement do not impact individuals who have been convicted under state cannabis laws,” writes Simeon Spencer, a former researcher, and operations associate for NAACP LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute. “To adequately redress the racial inequalities entrenched in policy around cannabis, both state and federal governments must act.”
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