Skubick: Does legal marijuana mean early release for some prisoners?

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Skubick: Does legal marijuana mean early release for some prisoners?

By Tim Skubick Published: February 19, 2018, 5:23 pm

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LANSING, Mich (WLNS) – If Michigan voters approve legalized pot in November, a Democratic candidate for attorney general thinks the state should consider freeing those who are now behind bars for selling pot before it was legal.

If the polling data is right, Michigan voters are poised to legalize the sale of pot for adults.

If they do a Democratic candidate for attorney general thinks something should be done about those who are now behind bars for selling pot when it was illegal.

“The last thing I want to see is white folks coming in and selling pot legally while there are those sitting in prison for selling pot and they are saying, why am I in here when the guys are making money,” says William Nokes.

Pot Penalities

• Over 45 Kilos: 15 years-$10 M Fine
• 5 Kilos: 7 years-$500,000 Fine
• Less 5 Kilos: 4 years-$20,000 fine

There are 20,000 inmates in state and federal prisons for marijuana crimes.

Mr. Noakes is seeking fairness for Michigan prisoners who sold pot before it was legalized.

So would he go back and them out of jail? “I don’t know if I could do that,” said Nokes. “But I would certainly look at how do you create a mechanism of screening these folks to make sure that there treated fairly.”

But does that treating them fairly mean releasing them from prison?

“Some of them may get out. Some may not because they may be associated with other crimes other than simply selling marijuana.”

The other candidates for attorney general, Tom Leonard, Tonya Schuitmaker, Pat Miles and Dana Nessel have not been asked about this controversial suggestion yet, but they will.