All of our lives we've all seen the commercials, learned the slogans, saw the movies, and some witnessed personally the effects of drugs on a person. But, I am NOT talking about drugs per se, I'm talking about marijuana, across the country at this point in history, marijuana is quickly becoming a legalized drug. So with all of the changes happening in the legal system concerning marijuana, the question now comes what happens to those already serving sentences for past marijuana crimes, Do we let them go or do they continue to serve out their sentences? Jamelle Bouie of Theslate.com believes The war on weed was foolish and costly. If we can admit that, then we should also be able to admit that it's time to make amends to those who were most harmed by those laws." The numerous studies were done on the effects of marijuana on the person, and the community as a whole has opened the eyes of some nonbelievers to understand that marijuana is nowhere near as harmful as cocaine, heroin, meth, and other such hardcore drugs. And due to the results of the studies, and other studies proving the merit medical marijuana uses has, it has called a ripple effect in the community pushing toward the legalization and decriminalization of the use of marijuana.
According to slate.com, very few marijuana arrests result in actual prison time. Roughly 40,000 state and federal inmates have current marijuana convictions, and the majority of those are for sale and distribution. In his book Hemp A Short History of the Most Misunderstood Plant and Its Uses and Abuses, by Mark Bourrie, the author goes iincludes a quote from medical marijuana activist Dr. Tod Mikuriya who said, "To the agriculturist, cannabis is a fiber crop; to the physician, it is an enigma, to the user, a euphoriant, to the police, a menace; to the trafficker, a source of profitable danger; to the convict or parolee and his family, a source of sorrow.