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LPP Submits Comment on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act
Sarah Gersten • Sep 01, 2021
LPP provides feedback on federal legalization draft bill
On Tuesday, Last Prisoner Project submitted feedback to the Offices of Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, and Senator Cory Booker on the draft of their recently introduced bill to end the federal prohibition of cannabis. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) provides a pathway for descheduling marijuana at the federal level and providing retroactive relief for those most affected by the criminalization of cannabis.
LPP’s feedback focuses specifically on the portions of the bill devoted to providing expungement and resentencing opportunities for those still serving a federal marijuana-related sentence and those suffering the collateral consequences of a federal marijuana-related offense on their record.
"We're incredibly excited about the potential the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act has to end federal marijuana prohibition and provide retroactive relief for the countless people unjustly burdened by federal cannabis convictions. That said, it's critically important the legislation doesn't just gesture towards restorative justice, but actually delivers on its promise. We very much look forward to collaborating with Congress to make the amendments that will ensure the letter of the law properly reflects its spirit,” stated LPP’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Natalie Papillion.
LPP’s comments on the draft bill include the following suggestions for improvement:
ELIGIBILITY SCHEME
- Replace “nonviolent federal cannabis offender”. While we agree the CAOA is not the appropriate mechanism for effectuating relief for individuals convicted of crimes that have “the element of use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another,” the inclusion of the term “nonviolent” would severely impede the just and inefficient implementation of the CAOA’s restorative justice provisions.
- Facilitate legal relief (expungement and resentencing) for individuals with cannabis-adjacent criminal records. The reality of federal charging practices sees many federal “cannabis offenders” charged and convicted not of Controlled Substance Act / Controlled Substances Import and Export Act / Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act violations, but rather with offenses like money laundering, RICO violations, etc. This means that—despite certain convictions existing solely because of marijuana’s designation as a Schedule I drug—many individuals convicted of these “cannabis-adjacent” crimes will not necessarily be eligible for the CAOA’s expungement and/or resentencing schemes. To truly fulfill the promise of the CAOA’s restorative justice provisions, we suggest the legislation account for the reality of these cannabis-adjacent violations.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCESSES
- Enact a sequestration procedure for the expungement of eligible cannabis-related criminal records. This process would guarantee “expungement-eligible” criminal records could not (a) lawfully be used for criminal justice purposes nor (b) considered in the vast majority of civil contexts. However, it would allow the subjects of said records to maintain access to critically important information about the expungement proceedings.
- Allow for judicial discretion during the resentencing process. This will ensure individuals currently serving federal cannabis-related criminal sentences can benefit from the retroactive changes in the law.
ADMINISTRATION AND OVERSIGHT
- Enable the efficient and effective administration of CAOA’s expungement and expungement notification campaigns. To guarantee the timely roll-out of these provisions, we recommend the CAOA allocate funds to pay for the costs associated with both the expungement implementation process and notification campaign, as well as specify a deadline for the successful completion of both initiatives.
- Ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of CAOA’s expungement and resentencing provisions. We suggest dedicating Opportunity Trust Grant Program funds to the U.S Sentencing Commission (or another similarly situated and well-equipped agency) to study and evaluate the implementation of the bill’s expungement and resentencing schemes.
MISCELLANEOUS
- Ensure the consideration of fines and criminal forfeiture actions. To allow for the timely processing of eligible cases, we suggest the bill’s authors determine if records relating to criminal forfeiture actions should be expunged in conjunction with the records related to the underlying criminal case. We also encourage the authors to include language that (a) contemplates the reality of fines and forfeited assets stemming from federal cannabis-related convictions and (b) gives courts instructions on how to address them.
You can read LPP's full comment here.
Rescheduling is not legalization, and the existing penalties for cannabis remain unchanged. In October of 2022, President Biden made a series of historic cannabis-related executive actions , including initiating a review by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice on how cannabis is scheduled under federal law. In August 2023, HHS recommended rescheduling cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug and referred it to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for final approval. Today, the DEA announced its decision to approve the HHS recommendation to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III. The proposal now goes to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to review the rule. If approved by OMB, the proposed rescheduling would go to public comment before being finalized. This historic announcement is the culmination of years of advocacy by Last Prisoner Project (LPP) and other advocacy groups to push the federal government to better reflect the public’s view on cannabis. While the move is undoubtedly a step forward for the movement, it does not meet LPP’s goal to fully remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and its associated criminal penalties. So then, what exactly does this schedule change mean for cannabis justice reform? While the action could result in some favorable tax and banking reform for the cannabis industry and more dedicated research for cannabis patients, there are no changes in how the criminal legal system punishes cannabis users. Rescheduling is a peripheral change that signals the reevaluation of cannabis, but not the release of cannabis prisoners or relief for those who continue to be burdened by the lasting consequences of the carceral system. In short, this announcement represents progress but not justice. Despite not achieving full legalization, we must use this historic moment to push the fight for cannabis justice forward by broadening the scope of Biden’s cannabis clemency action, working with Congress and certain administrative agencies to both provide retroactive relief and to reduce prospective cannabis criminal enforcement, and incentivizing states to provide broad retroactive relief, particularly in states that have adopted a fully legal cannabis market. Learn more about ways cannabis justice advocates can leverage this change to advance reforms in our recent memo . LPP is committed to continuing the fight for cannabis justice until everyone is fully free from the harms of the War on Drugs. This means advocating for cannabis to be fully descheduled. To ensure we keep the pressure on descheduling, retroactive relief, and full legalization, Last Prisoner Project helped organize the largest bipartisan group of cannabis advocates in Washington D.C. on April 18th, 2024 for our 420 Unity Day of Action to urge Congress and the President to take further action. Last Prisoner Project believes that complete descheduling is a necessary step towards correcting past injustices and creating a fair and equitable criminal legal system. We will continue to leverage the momentum achieved from our advocacy to ensure that individuals burdened with past cannabis convictions have their records expunged and all cannabis prisoners are released, regardless of the federal scheduling decision.
President Joe Biden made a statement Wednesday announcing a decision to pardon 11 people convicted of non-violent drug charges and commuted the sentences of five others. "America is a nation founded on the promise of second chances," he said . "We also recommit to building a criminal justice system that lives up to those ideals and ensures that everyone receives equal justice under law." Despite this positive use of his clemency powers, President Biden again failed to include any people still in prison at the federal level for cannabis offenses which is estimated to be at least 3,000 individuals. Even though he has provided record relief to almost 13,000 people with his expanded cannabis possession pardons, the President has failed to release a single person in prison for cannabis. Last Prisoner Project Executive Director, Sarah Gersten said, "While we are encouraged to see the President use his clemency power to commute the sentences of those incarcerated for drug offenses, we are hopeful that the administration will fulfill their promises both to use the clemency power more robustly as well as to commute the sentences of those still incarcerated for cannabis." "The Administration has made it clear that cannabis reform is a priority and one that will energize their electorate. To truly make an impact that will sway voters come November the president needs to take action to release the estimated 3,000 individuals still incarcerated for cannabis federally." We hope that President Biden recognizes that releasing people with cannabis offenses doesn't require legalization. They demand executive action. If he is looking for the next batch of candidates for clemency, we have already sent him a list of deserving individuals whose petitions are sitting with the Office of the Pardon Attorney. He simply needs to act on them. We recently rallied advocates at the White House on our 420 Unity Day of Action to demand their freedom and encourage the public to help tell Congress and the President to take further action.
Listen on: iHeartRadio | Pandora | Spotify | RSS On March 8, 2016, Officer Nicholas Blake became suspicious of two vehicles traveling together on Interstate 70 toward Manhattan, KS due to their appearance and registration inconsistencies. He suspected they were involved in drug trafficking, with one acting as a decoy. Following a series of stops and surveillances by multiple law enforcement officers, a considerable amount of marijuana and methamphetamine was found in one of the vehicles leading to the arrest of Donte Westmoreland and others. Westmoreland was convicted based largely on the testimony of an informant, Jacob Gadwood, who claimed to have bought marijuana from Donte, but the informant's credibility was later questioned, and a prosecutorial deal ensuring Gadwood would not be charged with a crime was never disclosed. Donte Westmoreland is a decriminalization and anti-incarceration advocate whose experience with the criminal justice system changed his life forever. With a no criminal record score, and nothing illegal in his possession, Donte was arrested and convicted on charges that were later overturned. He spent three years imprisoned, where with the support of the facility's Warden and staff, he worked to fight his charges and also spoke to area teens about his experience with law enforcement and the courts. He was released on October 15, 2020 and is re-establishing his life in northern California where he works with the Last Prisoner Project to help free anyone incarcerated on cannabis related charges. Learn more about Donte in recent stories by Cannabis & Tech , Missouri Independent , and ABC . To learn more and get involved, visit: https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/ https://fromtheearth.com/missouri/independence-menu/?dtche%5Bpath%5D=brands%2Fwest-by-illicit We started the Wrongful Conviction podcast to provide a voice to innocent people in prison. We want to hear your voices, too. So call us at 833-207-4666 and leave us a message. Tell us how these powerful, often tragic and sometimes triumphant, stories make you feel. Shocked? Inspired? Motivated? We want to know! We may even include your story in a future episode. And hey, the more of you that join in, the more power our collective voices will have. So tell a friend to listen and to call us too at 833-207-4666. Wrongful Conviction is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
