A senator in Puerto Rico has filed a invoice that may expunge convictions for low-level marijuana possession. The sponsor of the laws, impartial Senator José “Chaco” Vargas Vidot, filed the invoice on October 11, saying that he was impressed by President Joseph Biden’s announcement 5 days earlier that he would pardon federal convictions for easy marijuana possession.
The senator from Puerto Rico was referring to an announcement Biden made on October 6 through which the president mentioned that he would subject an govt order to pardon all federal convictions for easy marijuana possession. The president’s pardons will have an effect on about 6,500 individuals who have been convicted of marijuana possession below federal legislation and 1000’s extra within the District of Columbia, according to a report from The New York Instances. Biden additionally referred to as on governors to take related motion on the state degree, the place the overwhelming majority of hashish possession fees are filed and prosecuted.
“As I typically mentioned throughout my marketing campaign for President, nobody must be in jail only for utilizing or possessing marijuana. Sending individuals to jail for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated individuals for conduct that many states now not prohibit,” Biden said in a statement on October 6. “Prison data for marijuana possession have additionally imposed useless obstacles to employment, housing, and academic alternatives. And whereas white and Black and brown individuals use marijuana at related charges, Black and brown individuals have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate charges.”
Below Vidot’s plan, possession of as much as 5 grams of hashish can be decriminalized. The senator mentioned the quantity permits for a presumption of private use, whereas bigger portions would nonetheless be topic to prohibition.
Stiff Penalties for Pot Possession in Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, convictions for possession of any quantity of hashish are thought of felonies that carry penalties of two to 4 years in jail and a tremendous of as much as $5,000 for the primary offense. Punishment for subsequent offenses is even harsher, with the time behind bars elevated to 4 to 10 years, according to information from the Nationwide Group for the Reform of Marijuana Legal guidelines (NORML).
In accordance with inmate inhabitants data from Puerto Rico’s Division of Corrections (DCR), 65% of prisoners, or about 5,000 of the 7,000 individuals behind bars, endure from problematic substance misuse. The DCR report additionally reveals that about 8% of males and 11% of ladies prisoners started utilizing medication after they entered the correctional system.
“Undoubtedly, these figures mirror an issue of availability of drugs inside the nation’s jail establishments,” Vidot mentioned. “Thus, individuals who report that they weren’t substance customers previous to the conviction start this means of consumption and dependancy inside the establishment,” Vidot mentioned. “For these individuals who have been already combating the illness of drug dependancy when coming into the penal system, the situation worsens inside it.”
Following Biden’s announcement, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia mentioned that he wouldn’t observe the instance set by the president’s govt order to pardon marijuana possession convictions, including that DCR data point out that no prisoners are being held for possession of marijuana. However Vidot countered that the company’s data don’t include sufficient data to make that willpower.
“The governor has already mentioned that he won’t give approach to the manager order, missing the need and braveness to take an essential step for justice,” Vidot mentioned. “It’s statistically not possible to know the variety of inmates for easy possession of marijuana, as a result of after they arrive at Corrections they inform them the legislation they violated, not the precise drug. Now the query is, who could have the braveness to affix me and provides approach to this in Puerto Rico?”
In 2018, Vidot, who can be a public well being employee, launched Senate Invoice 912, a measure that may decriminalize possession of all managed substances. And whereas the brand new invoice is concentrated particularly on hashish possession, the senator famous that he wish to see the Puerto Rican authorities eradicate all penalties for drug possession.
“Despite the fact that the aim must be the decriminalization of all medication, as a number of superior jurisdictions have already efficiently completed, with this proposal we advance the decriminalization of hashish or marijuana, taking step one in that course,” he mentioned.