GOP Senator Leads Bipartisan Effort To Seal Low-Level Marijuana Possession Records, Providing 'Second Chance'
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Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democrat colleague Senator Bob Casey introduced a cannabis-related measure.
Republican Senator Rand Paul was busy last week.
What Happened: In addition to introducing a measure that aims to relax federal constraints on hemp by tripling the allowable THC content from 0.3% to 1%, he also proposed a cannabis-related bill.
The Clean Slate Act would allow individuals convicted of simple drug possession and other low-level, nonviolent crimes involving marijuana to request record sealing. That's for offenses that aren't eligible for automatic relief.
The newly introduced measure is a companion bill to a House version, filed in 2023, by Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Nancy Mace (R-SC). That bill didn't make it to the floor, as highlighted by Marijuana Moment's Kyle Jaeger.
Why It Matters: The bipartisan legislation from Paul and his Democrat colleague U.S. Senator Bob Casey "would grant millions of Americans the opportunity for a second chance at life by automatically sealing federal arrest records for individuals not convicted and those convicted of low-level, nonviolent drug offenses after completing their sentence."
The legislation also seeks to set up procedures enabling individuals to "petition a federal district judge to review and potentially seal records for other nonviolent offenses that are not automatically sealed."
"This legislation will ensure that parents, workers, and families who have successfully completed their sentence can build successful lives that are unburdened by minor, nonviolent criminal histories," Casey said in a press release.
On the state level, legislative efforts to give a second chance to such individuals are numerous, including pushes from Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut and New York, to name a few.
