Many Pennsylvania residents with nonviolent cannabis offenses will be given a second chance, and the most recent batch of pardons is a promising and much-needed signal of relief.

In a Jan. 12 announcement, Gov. Tom Wolf granted 369 additional pardons, bringing his total to 2,540. Nearly 400 of those pardons were provided under an expedited review process for nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.

“I have taken this process very seriously—reviewing and giving careful thought to each and every one of these 2,540 pardons and the lives they will impact. Every single one of the Pennsylvanians who made it through the process truly deserves their second chance, and it’s been my honor to grant it,” said Gov. Wolf. 

“A record prevents positive forward motion in a person’s life, and can spark a repetitive cycle of defeat. I firmly believe that with restored rights, pardoned Pennsylvanians prove themselves by stepping up and giving back to our communities.”

These 2,540 pardons are the most granted by a governor in the history of Pennsylvania. Before Gov. Wolf, Gov. Ed Rendell held the record with 1,122 pardons granted.

Among Gov. Wolf’s pardons, 395 of those were part of the expedited review process for nonviolent cannabis-related offenses and 232 were a part of the PA Marijuana Pardon Project.

In 2019, the Board of Pardons introduced and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman authorized the Expedited Review Program for Nonviolent Marijuana-Related Offenses, a program to speed up the pardon application process for people with nonviolent cannabis possession or paraphernalia convictions. 

PA Marijuana Pardon Project is a one-time, large-scale pardoning project for people with select minor, non-violent cannabis criminal convictions. The project is spearheaded by Gov. Wolf and former Lieutenant Gov. Fetterman, and was announced on Sept. 1, 2022, providing a faster way of the process.

“Nobody should be turned down for a job, housing, or volunteering at your child’s school because of some old nonviolent weed charge, especially given that most of us don’t even think this should be illegal,” Fetterman said at the time. Fetterman now serves as U.S. senator from Pennsylvania after assuming office on Jan. 3.

In legal terms, a pardon constitutes total forgiveness by the state for a ​criminal conviction, regardless of whether ​the sentence included time in prison, and allows for expungement of the related criminal record. Applying for a pardon is free for individuals seeking clemency, and the change was made during the Wolf Administration. Under the administration, the pardons process was modernized so that the application process is more streamlined, and the application fees are now waived. The application can be downloaded online and the process does not require a lawyer.

A report released in 2020 by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia—analyzing 10 years of pardons data—found that pardons contributed $16.5 million to Pennsylvania’s economy over the past decade at “no cost to anyone.”

The governor has shown consistent support for cannabis over the past several years, after coming around to it more recently. On Twitter in 2021, Gov. Tom Wolf reiterated his call to end pot prohibition in Pennsylvania. It’s a change in tune for Wolf, who in 2017 said that Pennsylvania wasn’t ready to legalize recreational pot use. Two of Pennsylvania’s neighbors, New Jersey and New York, helped push the state into adopting its own cannabis market.

Gov. Wolf has served for two terms in his leadership role. The governor’s Priorities for Pennsylvania is helping to fuel Pennsylvania’s economic comeback, and the latest round of pardons is helping to further improve his image.

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The American Medical Association announced last week that it has approved a resolution calling on states that have legalized or decriminalized cannabis to expunge the records of arrests and convictions for marijuana-related offenses that are no longer illegal. The AMA, the largest professional association for physicians in the United States, announced on June 14 that it had formally adopted the policy change at the Annual Meeting of its House of Delegates held in Chicago last week.

In a statement, the AMA wrote that the goal of the policy change is “to introduce equity and fairness into the fast-changing effort to legalize cannabis.” The group notes that at least 18 states have legalized cannabis for use by adults and more than three dozen have passed legislation allowing for the use of medical weed. However, in many states, those who were arrested or convicted of cannabis offenses before legalization measures were enacted still carry the burden associated with a criminal record.

“This affects young people aspiring to careers in medicine as well as many others who are denied housing, education, loans and job opportunities,” said AMA trustee Scott Ferguson, M.D. “It simply isn’t fair to ruin a life based on actions that result in convictions but are subsequently legalized or decriminalized.” 

The AMA went on to note that even when arrest and conviction records are expunged, affected persons often still face collateral consequences such as disqualification from eligibility for public benefits such as health insurance programs. The group also called for the expungement process to be automated, acknowledging that relief often entails complex or costly measures by those seeking to have their records cleared.

“Expungement is no panacea,” Ferguson said. “It can be a lengthy and expensive process. Automatic expungement would relieve people of having to figure out and pay for the bureaucratic steps necessary for sealing a criminal record.”

The new AMA policy also calls for an end to probation, parole, or other court-ordered supervision for cannabis-related offenses that are later decriminalized or legalized. The group noted that cannabis prohibition laws have not been applied equitably, with members of historically marginalized communities bearing the brunt of law enforcement and associated negative impacts of the War on Drugs. The AMA added that Black people are 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for a marijuana offense, despite data that has consistently shown that Blacks and white people consume cannabis at roughly equal rates.

In addition to its call for state governments to expunge cannabis records, the AMA said that it would discuss expungement with relevant medical education and licensing authorities including the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Federation of State Medical Boards “to determine the impact of disclosure of a cannabis-related offense on a medical school, residency or licensing application.”

AMA Still Opposes Cannabis Legalization

Despite its support for clearing the records for cannabis convictions in states that have enacted marijuana policy reform, the AMA restated the group’s opposition to further efforts to legalize cannabis. The AMA offered several reasons for maintaining pot prohibition laws, citing possible negative health effects of cannabis use.

“The AMA continues to oppose legalization of cannabis,” the association wrote in its statement. “Legalization of cannabis for adult use is associated with increased traffic fatalities, exposures reported to poison control (including infants and children), emergency department visits, and cannabis-related hospitalizations. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of cannabis use in pregnant people is most concerning.”

Although the AMA is not onboard with furthering weed legalization efforts, the group’s published policy on cannabis “supports public health based strategies, rather than incarceration, in the handling of individuals possessing cannabis for personal use” and “encourages research on the impact of legalization and decriminalization of cannabis in an effort to promote public health and public safety.”

The cannabis policy, which was last updated in 2020, also notes that the AMA “will coordinate with other health organizations to develop resources on the impact of cannabis on human health and on methods for counseling and educating patients on the use cannabis and cannabinoids.”

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Malaysia’s cabinet agreed on Friday to end mandatory death penalty sentences for 12 different kind of “crimes” including those involving non-violent drug offenses. The move comes four years after the government imposed a stay on executions. The reason this is so significant is that most people on death row in Malaysia have been convicted on narcotics charges.

According to information provided by the government as of February of this year, 1,341 people were on the Malaysian death row—and 905 of those people were convicted of “drug trafficking.”

Human Rights advocates in the region are cautiously optimistic. However according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, there should be no celebrating until this is codified in legislation. “The Malaysian government loves to float trial balloons about human rights initiatives because it knows the international community has a short attention span.”

Amnesty International called the government’s decision a “welcome step in the right direction.”

According to the most recent reports, the government expects to introduce the bill in Parliament in October and have it go into effect no later than January 2023.

The move is even more significant given the trends on capital punishment in the region. Singapore, Myanmar, and Vietnam are, in stark contrast, increasing the use of the death penalty.

Cannabis Appears to be the Driving Force of Reform

What makes this sudden prioritization of changing a major piece of policy even more interesting is that the Malaysian government may have decided to change its stance on mandatory sentencing, beyond legal cases, because of its recent and growing interest in medical cannabis.

Medical cannabis reform was discussed by the Malaysian cabinet in April this year during a meeting which the country’s Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob also attended. Subsequently the government issued a written statement that said “More than 40 countries have legalised consumption of cannabis for medicinal purposes. The caucus believes that Malaysia has the space and a huge opportunity in this industry for medicinal and research purposes which could deliver a lot of benefits for the country.”

As of now, a mandatory capital punishment sentence is imposed on those caught with more than 200 grams of cannabis. Lesser offenses are punished by up to a life sentence in prison.

The most recent discussion at a cabinet level about legalization of at least medical use also came on the heels of charges of drug cultivation and trafficking being made against a popular local singer named Yasin Sulaiman who performs Islamic devotional songs.

Currently no legal cannabis is grown in the country. As of last November, the government began allowing the import of medical cannabis of pharmaceutical quality specifically for medical purposes.

It is also highly likely that the change in policy has been prompted by an enthusiastic embrace of the plant in next door Thailand which has recently moved forward not only with cannabis reform but just announced a giveaway of a million cannabis plants.

History of Cannabis in Malaysia

Cannabis has been cultivated in the country for centuries. There is scant evidence that it was used as medicine; archaeological evidence has revealed that hemp has long been used for fabric production and for food. Arab traders were selling it in the country as early as the 8^th century B.C.

The local cannabis trade entered its last golden age in the late 19^th century when the British East India Company began trading it across the region. During the last century, the Vietnam War and Western backpackers also fuelled the nascent market.

The War on Drugs is indeed coming to an end, globally. What makes this development even more exciting is that cannabis reform is now driving a much larger revision of government policy in every part of the world.

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