April 30, 2025 • 28 mins
From the heart of Ohio comes a raw, unfiltered look at a jarring contradiction—the celebration of legal marijuana while thousands remain behind bars for the same substance. Remie tackles this paradox head-on, exposing the troubling reality of Ohio's recreational cannabis legalization that created a thriving new market but offers zero relief to those still suffering from past convictions.
Drawing from personal experience and conversations with those affected, Remie reveals how legalization without retroactive relief creates two separate worlds: one where cannabis means profit and opportunity, another where it still means destroyed lives and ongoing punishment. The picture becomes even more troubling when examining how Black and lower-income communities, disproportionately targeted during prohibition, now face systematic exclusion from the legal industry through licensing barriers specifically tied to prior convictions.
What injustices do you see in your community that need addressing? Share your thoughts and join the conversation on our social platforms—your voice matters in creating the change we need.
Sources:
PubMed Central: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9170008/
Brain Smith Law: https://www.briansmithlaw.com/ohio-recreational-marijuana-uses-and-penalties
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
Lockdown with Legacy.
I'm your host, remy Jones, andtoday I got something special
for you.
Now, unfortunately, thatspecial is not DJ.
She's not going to be on thisepisode, but I do have a good
episode for you.
And before I get into that, Iwanted to first apologize to all
of my loyal listeners and allof my new listeners for kind of
(00:23):
dropping the ball on some ofthese episodes where I've been
by myself.
I feel like I should put a lotmore effort into that.
So, with me, you know, in thespirit of keeping it real, I
just wanted to apologize to youguys about that.
Now, another segment, before Iget into the episode is a life
update.
Get into the episode is a lifeupdate.
You could probably hear mychildren in the background and
(00:49):
that is because I love them somuch I wasn't able to, you know,
get the space to myself.
But that's all right, I'm stillgoing to give you guys what we
got and you might just hearHouse, full of Love, in the
background.
Hope you're all right with thatTo update us.
Of course you can hear my kids.
Everything's great, man, kidsare great, life is great.
(01:15):
Dj graduated and we areapproaching her graduation
ceremony.
That's going to be awesome.
All the grandparents, theparents and the kids get to be
there to see her in her regaliagetting her PhD diploma.
And I couldn't be more proud,right?
I think we all can be, afterwe've pretty much gone through
this journey together, right?
(01:35):
So I mean you guys are in on ittoo.
Please send your love on thesocial media and the email, you
know.
Send your love to her andsupport because, man, she
deserves it.
She bust her ass for this,right.
In other news, man, like I knowyou guys are probably excited
hearing of it, but we got thesehouse projects.
We're getting them going.
(01:56):
It's warm out, you know, thekids are getting involved.
I couldn't be more happy aboutit, especially to just see the
progress.
In general, man, like, one thingabout me is just seeing it
stagnate, man, it kind of bringsabout a depression or something
you know.
So seeing it pick up and, youknow, take root the progress of
(02:20):
it is just awesome.
In my personal, like in mypersonal life, which is almost
non-existent, to be honest.
Um, work is good, man.
Um, I've embarked on a weightloss journey, you know.
For those who've known melong-term, you know I used to be
chippy that's what I call it.
You know, used to be ripped man, um, and I just I just kind of
(02:43):
want to get back to that formerglory.
So I've embarked on thatjourney and I mean the last
month has been good to me.
I've lost, I think, 19 poundsin the last month.
So you know, stuff's workingright.
So I mean I'll give you guysupdates on that.
I don't mind sharing it.
You know I'm an open book.
So, other than that man, I wantto just go ahead and get to the
(03:05):
story.
If you guys don't mind thisepisode today.
I mean it's going to be alittle heavy.
I think it should be at least,because right now in Ohio, you
can legally walk into anydispensary, buy marijuana and go
home smiling.
Buy marijuana and go homesmiling, while somebody just a
few miles away could be sittingin a prison cell for doing the
(03:28):
exact same thing just a fewyears ago.
Now, it might not have been theexact same thing.
I might have been, you know,fred, down the street to sell
blood, whatever, but just theact of buying or transporting
(03:50):
marijuana a few years ago couldhave, you know, landed you
behind bars.
Now Ohio legalized recreationalmarijuana in November 2023, but
for thousands still incarceratedfor marijuana possession and
distribution under the old laws,like what does that mean for
them?
That legalization never reallyunlocked their doors or sales or
gave them any kind of relief.
So today we're asking, like,what happens when the laws move
(04:12):
forward but the people harmed bythe laws get left behind?
You know?
And what does justice reallydemand of us right now?
Like, what does it look likefor them?
And, of course, you can't makeeverybody happy.
So how do you find a happymedium for everybody involved?
You know.
So let's start with the basics.
(04:33):
You know issue two, which isthe law that legalized
recreational marijuana in Ohio.
It was passed in November 2023,making it legal for adults 21
and over to possess up to twoand a half ounces of marijuana.
Now, I used to smoke prettyregularly back when I was, you
know, younger Notice the ER onthere younger.
(04:53):
But two and a half ounces ofmarijuana is not, like that's,
not little boy weed bro, likethat's we're about to go to a
party type stuff.
But anyway, you're allowed topossess up to two and a half
ounces.
You're allowed to growmarijuana.
You're allowed to grow sixplants individually.
Um, if there's more than oneperson in the household, 21 and
(05:17):
over, you can grow up to 12plants in the house and you're
allowed to purchase marijuana,but it has to be from a licensed
dispensary.
Now it's a brand new market.
Man that brings jobs, thatbrings taxes.
You know that brings excitementfor the government, right,
those are the ooh.
Those are like hot words.
(05:37):
You know, like taxes and jobsEverybody's.
You know elections going on,everybody wants to talk about
taxes and jobs that they'rebringing around.
But you know and this is a bigbut the law does not apply
retroactively.
So that means there's noautomatic release for people who
were convicted of possession ordistribution prior to 2023.
(06:02):
There's no automaticexpungement for their records.
There's no automatic sentencereductions for people convicted
under those old laws.
I mean, we're basically livingin two Ohios and I mean to get
on a tangent real quick, there'smany more Ohios than just these
two.
Like these two are just talkingabout weed.
(06:24):
But I've talked before aboutlike old law, new law inside.
And you know, every time a lawpasses, it doesn't necessarily
have to go retroactively.
Sometimes it does, sometimes itdoesn't.
So there are many people inprison for the same crimes and
they all have different sentencestructures, you know.
So you know I ain't going toget too big into that rabbit
(06:46):
hole.
But what I really wanted to sayis you know, marijuana is a
business opportunity for someand for another, like it's still
a reason that their life ismessed up, you know, like
they're still dealing with theprison sentence, they're still
still dealing with the umcollateral sanctions, they're
(07:07):
still dealing with thesupervision post prison.
You know, and that's realmessed up, especially if you're
somebody who, like the peoplearound you, are excited about
weed.
They're using it whether it'srecreationally, whether it's
medicinal, and you're stillgoing to check in with your PO
(07:28):
about that weed charge that youhad.
You know that's.
I mean, I can't see that as anykind of justice.
So what exactly does this Ohiolaw change?
Right, thanks to guidance fromBrian Smith's law I mean, here's
the quick version right?
Private possession and use arelegal within limits.
(07:49):
Public use, distributionwithout a license and operating
the vehicle while you're highare still legal.
But here's what's missingthere's no built-in system to
help people harmed by previousmarijuana convictions.
I keep saying that rightMeanwhile, I mean harsh
penalties of the past stillhaunt.
(08:10):
Many Ohioans Possession over 200grams.
That's a felony Distribution offive kilograms, like that's, I
think, an F3, you know, a felonythree, I think it's.
Possession over 200 grams is afelony five, and I mean that's
just the technical side of it Toput those into perspective for
(08:32):
people who don't know.
A felony five, I think can giveyou up to 12 months in prison
and a felony three I think cangive you up to three years, you
know.
So I mean, I always say anytime in prison is a real time.
I don't necessarily think thatany time is just a little bit to
(08:53):
be overlooked, right?
According to a 2022 studypublished by the International
Journal of EnvironmentalResearch and Public Health,
black Americans are nearly'slike man.
It was just a little bit ofweed, and the laws are kind of
(09:29):
excessive when it comes tosentencing.
But they're not what do youcall it?
They're not really enforced.
You know the same for everyone,so you know.
Post-legalization a lot ofstates often see the same racial
disparities play out in the whobenefits from the new legal
(09:53):
market right.
People of color aresystematically excluded from
licensing opportunities and facemajor barriers to clearing
their criminal records.
I mean, of course, they're nottrying to give no license to
somebody who's a felon, but Imean, like I said, if you were
selling weed to support yourfamily previous to the law
passing and now you're trying toget the licensure so you can do
(10:18):
it legitimately, like they'rebarring you from that, but
they're giving these licenses tocorporations led by, I mean,
white people, not to make it,you know, racial, but I mean it
doesn't help the people whochose this, like really, I mean
those are the professionals,right, they know the system, but
(10:41):
they're kept out of it and youknow they continue to suffer
while others line their pocketsand then they pay the taxes that
line the government's pocketsand everybody on the legit side
is all happy, right?
So, even as the law claims tochange, the system still
replicates the old injustices innew ways.
I mean, let's talk about thereal human costs, right?
(11:05):
Imagine this you were arrestedfor selling a few ounces of
marijuana, you got sentencedunder outdated laws, you've
missed birthdays, holidays,plenty of opportunities, and now
you face the collateralsanctions.
And then you watch on TV, aspeople do legally and profitably
, what you're still beingpunished for, like it isn't
(11:27):
theoretical really.
I mean this is happening acrossOhio, this is happening across
some other states.
I mean there are people servingfive, 10, 20 years for
nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Right, the trauma ofincarceration doesn't just
vanish when the laws changeoutside the walls.
I mean really, it compounds it.
Right, I spoke with a guy manand he served seven years for
(11:51):
marijuana possession with theintent to distribute.
And he told me, like it's likethe world moves on without me,
you know, but they're gettingrich off of it.
Now All I did I mean all it didwas break his life, is what he
said, you know, like, and hisstory's not really rare.
(12:12):
Like the Public Health Journalarticle points out that criminal
records, specifically for drugoffenses, dramatically reduced
chances for housing, employmentand education.
Um, and I can relate to that.
Like, when I got out of prison,my my case wasn't necessarily
drug related, but I tried to goto um Ohio university, which I
(12:33):
went to briefly before Itransferred to Ohio State
University, and they told me Iwasn't allowed to attend on
their campuses because of mycriminal record.
And so it's like, dude the heck.
I mean, in many other stateslike Ohio, that means marijuana
convictions continue to punishafter the sentence technically
(12:55):
ends.
And that's not just marijuanaconvictions but, as we know,
that's all kinds of convictions.
You don't just simply do yourtime for the crime.
It's pretty much a lifesentence, unless you can find
some sort of reprieve in theform of a pardon or clemency or
whatever.
But let's be real, man, somestates got it right.
(13:18):
You know everybody's not Ohio,everybody's not doing it like us
, but like Illinois, california,new York, I mean they built in
when they legalized marijuana,they built in automatic
expungement into theirlegalization laws.
You know Ohio not so much.
No automatic record clearing,no automatic release, no
built-in reparations forcommunities disproportionately
(13:41):
harmed, no sentence reductions.
You know nothing.
I mean really I don't eventhink they even talked about it.
I mean I don't know if they didor not, I'm just saying nothing
came about, nothing's on therecord.
You know Now Governor DeWinehasn't really prioritized
clemency for marijuana offensesand legislative leaders are
(14:03):
silent.
Meanwhile the research showsthat without structured
expungement programs,disparities in who benefits from
legalization only grow widerover time.
I mean advocacy groups in Ohioare fighting for retroactive
relief, calling for clemency,sentence reductions, record
clearing, but I mean withoutpolicy level action.
It's an uphill battle and thissilence from leadership isn't
(14:29):
really neutral either, like it'sanother form of injustice.
I mean I already told you theblack and brown communities
really, and lower classcommunities I don't even.
Let's get it really raised forreal Lower class communities are
probably really close and couldbenefit the most from it.
(14:51):
If they were to structure thisright, it could bring a lot of
people up out of poverty by youknow, if they had the
opportunities.
But we talk about opportunitiesall the time and lack of
opportunities, so where doesthat leave us?
I mean marijuana legalizationwithout mass expungement,
without clemency, withoutreparations.
(15:11):
That's just profit withoutjustice, really.
I mean the government saw a waythat they could, you know, kind
of give the people what theywant and make a lot of money off
of it.
I mean, just just be real rightNow.
It's a new industry, if youwant to look at it like that,
but it's built on old pain.
You know, this is built on topof a lot of people who suffered
(15:35):
behind us and it's a marketwhere some thrive while others
are still marked as felons.
You can have two people withthe same professions, with the
same knowledge, with the sameknow-how, and one of them is
despised by society and one ofthem is hailed as an
entrepreneur and bringing jobsto the community, you know.
(15:59):
So if we're serious about legacy, if we're serious about ending
cycles of incarceration, thenlegalization can't just be about
the money part, you know.
It can't just be about therecreation and the fun.
It has to be about, like,making this right.
And it has to be about people,you know.
It has to be about healing theharm that was done.
(16:20):
Justice demands retroactiverelief, because those are the
people who matter the mostreally, you know.
Justice demands liberation, notjust for legislation, because
if we leave our brothers andsisters, cousins, neighbors and
friends behind while the rest ofus move on forward, that's not
a legacy worth celebrating.
(16:46):
Now let's say, someone does getout, they serve their time for a
marijuana offense.
That's now legal, they're free,right.
But what kind of freedom is itwhen a felony still follows you
everywhere?
We talked about that already onplenty of episodes.
You know the InternationalJournal of Environmental
Research and Public Health.
We have an article from themthat kind of lays it out clearly
(17:08):
Like criminal records,especially from drug charges.
Perpetuate racialized socialcontrol, even after legalization
.
Perpetuate racialized socialcontrol even after legalization.
Like employers can deny jobs,landlords can refuse leases,
federal financial aid isrestricted.
Some licenses, most licenses,you know kind of, and most
(17:34):
specifically like for working inthe legal cannabis industry are
off limits if you have any typeof drug felony.
So I mean, let that sink in.
Like you can't work in the veryindustry that replaced your
prison sentence.
Like dude, what the heck.
Like.
I feel like if anybody shouldoverlook a weed charge or a drug
conviction or anything, itshould be this industry.
(17:55):
Right, and this isn't justpersonal harm, like this is
structural.
This is you know what's theword Systemic, you know this is
like it traps people in cyclesof poverty and instability and
surveillance, you know, and, yes, in recidivism.
You know, without reentry,support and record clearing,
(18:17):
legalizationization like it allbecomes just another empty
promise.
You know, and really I thinkthat's what it's supposed to be.
It's kind of like a distraction.
You know, like, hey, look whatwe're giving you, look what
we're doing for you.
But I mean, think about all themoney.
This is a booming industry.
Think about all the money.
(18:47):
This is a booming industry.
Like the money they're rakingin while they're kind of like
patting themselves on the back.
Look what we did.
But I mean, don't look overthere at all these people
suffering, right, know, likefirst automatic expungement, you
know, and I'm not talking aboutbig time traffickers, man,
because I mean, I admit all, alldrug charges ain't equal and we
gotta do you know, we gottaadmit it was illegal at the time
(19:09):
.
But we're talking about, like,petty possession.
You know, um, you get pulledover, you got a joint, you got a
couple bags of weed, whatever.
Like, come on, man, we're nottalking about the brick man who
got caught with 50 bricks.
You know like, we're nottalking about that.
We're talking about the averagecitizen.
Like, give them some type of.
(19:30):
You know, give them a bone man,throw the smog out of that bone
.
So you know, automaticexpungement for the smog period
no hoops, no red tape.
Like, if the law changed, therecord should change right.
Second, you know, retroactiveresentencing and clemency.
Now that's where I think eventhe big players in the Wii game,
(19:53):
if they're not going to get noautomatic expungement, we should
at least be re-sentencingCensus reductions and stuff like
that.
I mean, we got to go back tothose still inside.
Legalization means Nothing ifthey stay forgotten.
And you know.
Third, like, invest in reentrysupport, not just housing and
(20:16):
jobs, but mental health care,trauma healing.
You know, communityreconnection Get these people
some help so that they don'thave to do it the illegal way.
Like, obviously they have sometype of knowledge, some type of
talent, and now society isstarting to embrace it, when
they before were shunned.
(20:37):
So bring them in, you know,bring them in and let them be on
the inside, let them be playersat the table for real, because
I mean they could be the nextyou know, ceo of one of these
companies, dispensaries,whatever.
You know CEO of one of thesecompanies, dispensaries,
whatever and they could beproductive parts of society if
(20:58):
they were given a shot.
I mean and we're not reallytalking about doing this blindly
you know, we have to reinvestin these communities that were
most harmed and it's not donelike, like we don't know how.
You know.
I mean, we have models.
(21:19):
You know, illinois did it, newYork is trying to do it.
Like, if we're supposed to bethe heart of it all, then put
some heart into it, Right.
So I mean us as um members ofsociety, all of my listeners,
man, like, here's my challengeto you is, like you know, do
your part.
You know, sign up to vote, callinto your elected officials,
(21:44):
man, email your state reps,support organizations advocating
for record relief.
You know, tell your story ifyou've been affected by this.
Share someone else's story ifyou've been close to them, you
know, and you supported themthrough it.
But keep on the pressure becausereally as long as we kind of
just all watch it and wait forwhat happens, you know, we all
(22:06):
you know, there's that old adagewhere it's kind of like nobody
did anything because theythought somebody else would do
it, Like nothing's going tohappen.
Everybody voted to pass theweed law, you know, cool, like
go back and make sure that it'sdone right, because you know
change doesn't happen justbecause the law passed for real
(22:26):
Like we've seen many laws getpassed and because everybody
thought that was the end of thefight, it pretty much just
fizzled and nothing happened.
So we got to stay on it, youknow, and it's got to happen
because the masses refuse tosettle for it to be done
half-assed, right.
(22:46):
So I mean, that's me, that'sjust my plea to everybody To
kind of go back and talk aboutsome of the sentencing.
You know, for marijuana,marijuana charges are stiff for
the small guy.
Everything's a matter ofperspective, right?
(23:07):
When we talk about the bigplayers in marijuana, the laws
are kind of lax actually, youknow.
So when we're talking about noton the legal side because
really that's kind of a grayarea for me.
I got to be honest I don'treally know the most about the
ins and outs of legalizedmarijuana, but I can tell you
(23:30):
all about the darker side of theold days, right when it was the
wild wild west.
You all about the darker sideof the old days, right when it
was the wild wild west.
But I knew guys that were likeyou know, they sold drugs their
whole life and weed was kind oflike the gateway drug, if you
want to look at it in reverse.
So you know, everybody saysweed is gateway drug to harder
stuff, but really it was thegateway drug away from harder
(23:53):
stuff.
You know, I knew guys thatthey'll crack, they'll heroin,
all this crazy stuff.
When fentanyl was on the riseand all these laws started
coming around that that reallyput stiff penalties on the you
know distribution of this stuff,guys were like man, I'm just so
sweet because I mean, mean, Ithink it was like you could get
(24:15):
like up to three kilos was afelony three and it's like three
kilos, man, you get caught withthree keys.
That is that's a lot of weedfor real.
You know that's a lot of weedto get caught with.
But I mean, if you're going todo three years for three keys
like, or up to five maybe, butthat's nothing Like you get
(24:38):
caught with one kilogram ofcocaine, that's a felony one.
That's three to 11 years, youknow.
So I mean the sentencingguidelines were like hugely
different there.
So weed was kind of the way tolike keep the lights on as you
kind of transition to gettingout of the streets for real.
(24:58):
At least that's how Iexperienced it with you know, my
guys that were trying to makethat transition and shout out to
the guys by the way, man, Iain't going to put no names out
there, but I'm proud of you forreal, for the ones that made it
happen and the ones thatconsidered it happen, man, give
it another reconsideration,because I'm telling you it's
nice over here on the other side, man, on the legit side, I'm a
(25:22):
lame, full-on square.
Life is grand like a thousand,you hear me.
But you know I'm gonna end thishere, man, because I had a
longer episode and my computerfroze and it got deleted, so
it's going to be a short one.
You know I got to get my kidsto bed, but I love you guys, man
(25:45):
.
I appreciate you guys forsticking in there and please
like, share, subscribe and hitup the social media outlets that
we own.
You know, we got the TikTok, wegot Facebook, instagram.
I do got a Twitter.
I ain't gonna lie, man, I don'teven know the long end for it.
I'm gonna have to get on there.
If y'all want me on Twitter,man, y'all just gotta let me
(26:06):
know.
I'll put in the work I promiseAll right, but I mean,
definitely go check me out onTikTok.
I'm trying to push that heavyright now.
So if you're on TikTok, hit meup, Watch these little jewels
that I be dropping on there, allright, but anyway, man, I love
you guys.
Thank you, good night Peace.
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of
Lockdown with Legacy.
I'm your host, remy Jones, andtoday I got something special
for you.
Now, unfortunately, thatspecial is not DJ.
She's not going to be on thisepisode, but I do have a good
episode for you.
And before I get into that, Iwanted to first apologize to all
of my loyal listeners and allof my new listeners for kind of
(00:23):
dropping the ball on some ofthese episodes where I've been
by myself.
I feel like I should put a lotmore effort into that.
So, with me, you know, in thespirit of keeping it real, I
just wanted to apologize to youguys about that.
Now, another segment, before Iget into the episode is a life
update.
Get into the episode is a lifeupdate.
You could probably hear mychildren in the background and
(00:49):
that is because I love them somuch I wasn't able to, you know,
get the space to myself.
But that's all right, I'm stillgoing to give you guys what we
got and you might just hearHouse, full of Love, in the
background.
Hope you're all right with thatTo update us.
Of course you can hear my kids.
Everything's great, man, kidsare great, life is great.
(01:15):
Dj graduated and we areapproaching her graduation
ceremony.
That's going to be awesome.
All the grandparents, theparents and the kids get to be
there to see her in her regaliagetting her PhD diploma.
And I couldn't be more proud,right?
I think we all can be, afterwe've pretty much gone through
this journey together, right?
(01:35):
So I mean you guys are in on ittoo.
Please send your love on thesocial media and the email, you
know.
Send your love to her andsupport because, man, she
deserves it.
She bust her ass for this,right.
In other news, man, like I knowyou guys are probably excited
hearing of it, but we got thesehouse projects.
We're getting them going.
(01:56):
It's warm out, you know, thekids are getting involved.
I couldn't be more happy aboutit, especially to just see the
progress.
In general, man, like, one thingabout me is just seeing it
stagnate, man, it kind of bringsabout a depression or something
you know.
So seeing it pick up and, youknow, take root the progress of
(02:20):
it is just awesome.
In my personal, like in mypersonal life, which is almost
non-existent, to be honest.
Um, work is good, man.
Um, I've embarked on a weightloss journey, you know.
For those who've known melong-term, you know I used to be
chippy that's what I call it.
You know, used to be ripped man, um, and I just I just kind of
(02:43):
want to get back to that formerglory.
So I've embarked on thatjourney and I mean the last
month has been good to me.
I've lost, I think, 19 poundsin the last month.
So you know, stuff's workingright.
So I mean I'll give you guysupdates on that.
I don't mind sharing it.
You know I'm an open book.
So, other than that man, I wantto just go ahead and get to the
(03:05):
story.
If you guys don't mind thisepisode today.
I mean it's going to be alittle heavy.
I think it should be at least,because right now in Ohio, you
can legally walk into anydispensary, buy marijuana and go
home smiling.
Buy marijuana and go homesmiling, while somebody just a
few miles away could be sittingin a prison cell for doing the
(03:28):
exact same thing just a fewyears ago.
Now, it might not have been theexact same thing.
I might have been, you know,fred, down the street to sell
blood, whatever, but just theact of buying or transporting
(03:50):
marijuana a few years ago couldhave, you know, landed you
behind bars.
Now Ohio legalized recreationalmarijuana in November 2023, but
for thousands still incarceratedfor marijuana possession and
distribution under the old laws,like what does that mean for
them?
That legalization never reallyunlocked their doors or sales or
gave them any kind of relief.
So today we're asking, like,what happens when the laws move
(04:12):
forward but the people harmed bythe laws get left behind?
You know?
And what does justice reallydemand of us right now?
Like, what does it look likefor them?
And, of course, you can't makeeverybody happy.
So how do you find a happymedium for everybody involved?
You know.
So let's start with the basics.
(04:33):
You know issue two, which isthe law that legalized
recreational marijuana in Ohio.
It was passed in November 2023,making it legal for adults 21
and over to possess up to twoand a half ounces of marijuana.
Now, I used to smoke prettyregularly back when I was, you
know, younger Notice the ER onthere younger.
(04:53):
But two and a half ounces ofmarijuana is not, like that's,
not little boy weed bro, likethat's we're about to go to a
party type stuff.
But anyway, you're allowed topossess up to two and a half
ounces.
You're allowed to growmarijuana.
You're allowed to grow sixplants individually.
Um, if there's more than oneperson in the household, 21 and
(05:17):
over, you can grow up to 12plants in the house and you're
allowed to purchase marijuana,but it has to be from a licensed
dispensary.
Now it's a brand new market.
Man that brings jobs, thatbrings taxes.
You know that brings excitementfor the government, right,
those are the ooh.
Those are like hot words.
(05:37):
You know, like taxes and jobsEverybody's.
You know elections going on,everybody wants to talk about
taxes and jobs that they'rebringing around.
But you know and this is a bigbut the law does not apply
retroactively.
So that means there's noautomatic release for people who
were convicted of possession ordistribution prior to 2023.
(06:02):
There's no automaticexpungement for their records.
There's no automatic sentencereductions for people convicted
under those old laws.
I mean, we're basically livingin two Ohios and I mean to get
on a tangent real quick, there'smany more Ohios than just these
two.
Like these two are just talkingabout weed.
(06:24):
But I've talked before aboutlike old law, new law inside.
And you know, every time a lawpasses, it doesn't necessarily
have to go retroactively.
Sometimes it does, sometimes itdoesn't.
So there are many people inprison for the same crimes and
they all have different sentencestructures, you know.
So you know I ain't going toget too big into that rabbit
(06:46):
hole.
But what I really wanted to sayis you know, marijuana is a
business opportunity for someand for another, like it's still
a reason that their life ismessed up, you know, like
they're still dealing with theprison sentence, they're still
still dealing with the umcollateral sanctions, they're
(07:07):
still dealing with thesupervision post prison.
You know, and that's realmessed up, especially if you're
somebody who, like the peoplearound you, are excited about
weed.
They're using it whether it'srecreationally, whether it's
medicinal, and you're stillgoing to check in with your PO
(07:28):
about that weed charge that youhad.
You know that's.
I mean, I can't see that as anykind of justice.
So what exactly does this Ohiolaw change?
Right, thanks to guidance fromBrian Smith's law I mean, here's
the quick version right?
Private possession and use arelegal within limits.
(07:49):
Public use, distributionwithout a license and operating
the vehicle while you're highare still legal.
But here's what's missingthere's no built-in system to
help people harmed by previousmarijuana convictions.
I keep saying that rightMeanwhile, I mean harsh
penalties of the past stillhaunt.
(08:10):
Many Ohioans Possession over 200grams.
That's a felony Distribution offive kilograms, like that's, I
think, an F3, you know, a felonythree, I think it's.
Possession over 200 grams is afelony five, and I mean that's
just the technical side of it Toput those into perspective for
(08:32):
people who don't know.
A felony five, I think can giveyou up to 12 months in prison
and a felony three I think cangive you up to three years, you
know.
So I mean, I always say anytime in prison is a real time.
I don't necessarily think thatany time is just a little bit to
(08:53):
be overlooked, right?
According to a 2022 studypublished by the International
Journal of EnvironmentalResearch and Public Health,
black Americans are nearly'slike man.
It was just a little bit ofweed, and the laws are kind of
(09:29):
excessive when it comes tosentencing.
But they're not what do youcall it?
They're not really enforced.
You know the same for everyone,so you know.
Post-legalization a lot ofstates often see the same racial
disparities play out in the whobenefits from the new legal
(09:53):
market right.
People of color aresystematically excluded from
licensing opportunities and facemajor barriers to clearing
their criminal records.
I mean, of course, they're nottrying to give no license to
somebody who's a felon, but Imean, like I said, if you were
selling weed to support yourfamily previous to the law
passing and now you're trying toget the licensure so you can do
(10:18):
it legitimately, like they'rebarring you from that, but
they're giving these licenses tocorporations led by, I mean,
white people, not to make it,you know, racial, but I mean it
doesn't help the people whochose this, like really, I mean
those are the professionals,right, they know the system, but
(10:41):
they're kept out of it and youknow they continue to suffer
while others line their pocketsand then they pay the taxes that
line the government's pocketsand everybody on the legit side
is all happy, right?
So, even as the law claims tochange, the system still
replicates the old injustices innew ways.
I mean, let's talk about thereal human costs, right?
(11:05):
Imagine this you were arrestedfor selling a few ounces of
marijuana, you got sentencedunder outdated laws, you've
missed birthdays, holidays,plenty of opportunities, and now
you face the collateralsanctions.
And then you watch on TV, aspeople do legally and profitably
, what you're still beingpunished for, like it isn't
(11:27):
theoretical really.
I mean this is happening acrossOhio, this is happening across
some other states.
I mean there are people servingfive, 10, 20 years for
nonviolent marijuana offenses.
Right, the trauma ofincarceration doesn't just
vanish when the laws changeoutside the walls.
I mean really, it compounds it.
Right, I spoke with a guy manand he served seven years for
(11:51):
marijuana possession with theintent to distribute.
And he told me, like it's likethe world moves on without me,
you know, but they're gettingrich off of it.
Now All I did I mean all it didwas break his life, is what he
said, you know, like, and hisstory's not really rare.
(12:12):
Like the Public Health Journalarticle points out that criminal
records, specifically for drugoffenses, dramatically reduced
chances for housing, employmentand education.
Um, and I can relate to that.
Like, when I got out of prison,my my case wasn't necessarily
drug related, but I tried to goto um Ohio university, which I
(12:33):
went to briefly before Itransferred to Ohio State
University, and they told me Iwasn't allowed to attend on
their campuses because of mycriminal record.
And so it's like, dude the heck.
I mean, in many other stateslike Ohio, that means marijuana
convictions continue to punishafter the sentence technically
(12:55):
ends.
And that's not just marijuanaconvictions but, as we know,
that's all kinds of convictions.
You don't just simply do yourtime for the crime.
It's pretty much a lifesentence, unless you can find
some sort of reprieve in theform of a pardon or clemency or
whatever.
But let's be real, man, somestates got it right.
(13:18):
You know everybody's not Ohio,everybody's not doing it like us
, but like Illinois, california,new York, I mean they built in
when they legalized marijuana,they built in automatic
expungement into theirlegalization laws.
You know Ohio not so much.
No automatic record clearing,no automatic release, no
built-in reparations forcommunities disproportionately
(13:41):
harmed, no sentence reductions.
You know nothing.
I mean really I don't eventhink they even talked about it.
I mean I don't know if they didor not, I'm just saying nothing
came about, nothing's on therecord.
You know Now Governor DeWinehasn't really prioritized
clemency for marijuana offensesand legislative leaders are
(14:03):
silent.
Meanwhile the research showsthat without structured
expungement programs,disparities in who benefits from
legalization only grow widerover time.
I mean advocacy groups in Ohioare fighting for retroactive
relief, calling for clemency,sentence reductions, record
clearing, but I mean withoutpolicy level action.
It's an uphill battle and thissilence from leadership isn't
(14:29):
really neutral either, like it'sanother form of injustice.
I mean I already told you theblack and brown communities
really, and lower classcommunities I don't even.
Let's get it really raised forreal Lower class communities are
probably really close and couldbenefit the most from it.
(14:51):
If they were to structure thisright, it could bring a lot of
people up out of poverty by youknow, if they had the
opportunities.
But we talk about opportunitiesall the time and lack of
opportunities, so where doesthat leave us?
I mean marijuana legalizationwithout mass expungement,
without clemency, withoutreparations.
(15:11):
That's just profit withoutjustice, really.
I mean the government saw a waythat they could, you know, kind
of give the people what theywant and make a lot of money off
of it.
I mean, just just be real rightNow.
It's a new industry, if youwant to look at it like that,
but it's built on old pain.
You know, this is built on topof a lot of people who suffered
(15:35):
behind us and it's a marketwhere some thrive while others
are still marked as felons.
You can have two people withthe same professions, with the
same knowledge, with the sameknow-how, and one of them is
despised by society and one ofthem is hailed as an
entrepreneur and bringing jobsto the community, you know.
(15:59):
So if we're serious about legacy, if we're serious about ending
cycles of incarceration, thenlegalization can't just be about
the money part, you know.
It can't just be about therecreation and the fun.
It has to be about, like,making this right.
And it has to be about people,you know.
It has to be about healing theharm that was done.
(16:20):
Justice demands retroactiverelief, because those are the
people who matter the mostreally, you know.
Justice demands liberation, notjust for legislation, because
if we leave our brothers andsisters, cousins, neighbors and
friends behind while the rest ofus move on forward, that's not
a legacy worth celebrating.
(16:46):
Now let's say, someone does getout, they serve their time for a
marijuana offense.
That's now legal, they're free,right.
But what kind of freedom is itwhen a felony still follows you
everywhere?
We talked about that already onplenty of episodes.
You know the InternationalJournal of Environmental
Research and Public Health.
We have an article from themthat kind of lays it out clearly
(17:08):
Like criminal records,especially from drug charges.
Perpetuate racialized socialcontrol, even after legalization
.
Perpetuate racialized socialcontrol even after legalization.
Like employers can deny jobs,landlords can refuse leases,
federal financial aid isrestricted.
Some licenses, most licenses,you know kind of, and most
(17:34):
specifically like for working inthe legal cannabis industry are
off limits if you have any typeof drug felony.
So I mean, let that sink in.
Like you can't work in the veryindustry that replaced your
prison sentence.
Like dude, what the heck.
Like.
I feel like if anybody shouldoverlook a weed charge or a drug
conviction or anything, itshould be this industry.
(17:55):
Right, and this isn't justpersonal harm, like this is
structural.
This is you know what's theword Systemic, you know this is
like it traps people in cyclesof poverty and instability and
surveillance, you know, and, yes, in recidivism.
You know, without reentry,support and record clearing,
(18:17):
legalizationization like it allbecomes just another empty
promise.
You know, and really I thinkthat's what it's supposed to be.
It's kind of like a distraction.
You know, like, hey, look whatwe're giving you, look what
we're doing for you.
But I mean, think about all themoney.
This is a booming industry.
Think about all the money.
(18:47):
This is a booming industry.
Like the money they're rakingin while they're kind of like
patting themselves on the back.
Look what we did.
But I mean, don't look overthere at all these people
suffering, right, know, likefirst automatic expungement, you
know, and I'm not talking aboutbig time traffickers, man,
because I mean, I admit all, alldrug charges ain't equal and we
gotta do you know, we gottaadmit it was illegal at the time
(19:09):
.
But we're talking about, like,petty possession.
You know, um, you get pulledover, you got a joint, you got a
couple bags of weed, whatever.
Like, come on, man, we're nottalking about the brick man who
got caught with 50 bricks.
You know like, we're nottalking about that.
We're talking about the averagecitizen.
Like, give them some type of.
(19:30):
You know, give them a bone man,throw the smog out of that bone
.
So you know, automaticexpungement for the smog period
no hoops, no red tape.
Like, if the law changed, therecord should change right.
Second, you know, retroactiveresentencing and clemency.
Now that's where I think eventhe big players in the Wii game,
(19:53):
if they're not going to get noautomatic expungement, we should
at least be re-sentencingCensus reductions and stuff like
that.
I mean, we got to go back tothose still inside.
Legalization means Nothing ifthey stay forgotten.
And you know.
Third, like, invest in reentrysupport, not just housing and
(20:16):
jobs, but mental health care,trauma healing.
You know, communityreconnection Get these people
some help so that they don'thave to do it the illegal way.
Like, obviously they have sometype of knowledge, some type of
talent, and now society isstarting to embrace it, when
they before were shunned.
(20:37):
So bring them in, you know,bring them in and let them be on
the inside, let them be playersat the table for real, because
I mean they could be the nextyou know, ceo of one of these
companies, dispensaries,whatever.
You know CEO of one of thesecompanies, dispensaries,
whatever and they could beproductive parts of society if
(20:58):
they were given a shot.
I mean and we're not reallytalking about doing this blindly
you know, we have to reinvestin these communities that were
most harmed and it's not donelike, like we don't know how.
You know.
I mean, we have models.
(21:19):
You know, illinois did it, newYork is trying to do it.
Like, if we're supposed to bethe heart of it all, then put
some heart into it, Right.
So I mean us as um members ofsociety, all of my listeners,
man, like, here's my challengeto you is, like you know, do
your part.
You know, sign up to vote, callinto your elected officials,
(21:44):
man, email your state reps,support organizations advocating
for record relief.
You know, tell your story ifyou've been affected by this.
Share someone else's story ifyou've been close to them, you
know, and you supported themthrough it.
But keep on the pressure becausereally as long as we kind of
just all watch it and wait forwhat happens, you know, we all
(22:06):
you know, there's that old adagewhere it's kind of like nobody
did anything because theythought somebody else would do
it, Like nothing's going tohappen.
Everybody voted to pass theweed law, you know, cool, like
go back and make sure that it'sdone right, because you know
change doesn't happen justbecause the law passed for real
(22:26):
Like we've seen many laws getpassed and because everybody
thought that was the end of thefight, it pretty much just
fizzled and nothing happened.
So we got to stay on it, youknow, and it's got to happen
because the masses refuse tosettle for it to be done
half-assed, right.
(22:46):
So I mean, that's me, that'sjust my plea to everybody To
kind of go back and talk aboutsome of the sentencing.
You know, for marijuana,marijuana charges are stiff for
the small guy.
Everything's a matter ofperspective, right?
(23:07):
When we talk about the bigplayers in marijuana, the laws
are kind of lax actually, youknow.
So when we're talking about noton the legal side because
really that's kind of a grayarea for me.
I got to be honest I don'treally know the most about the
ins and outs of legalizedmarijuana, but I can tell you
(23:30):
all about the darker side of theold days, right when it was the
wild wild west.
You all about the darker sideof the old days, right when it
was the wild wild west.
But I knew guys that were likeyou know, they sold drugs their
whole life and weed was kind oflike the gateway drug, if you
want to look at it in reverse.
So you know, everybody saysweed is gateway drug to harder
stuff, but really it was thegateway drug away from harder
(23:53):
stuff.
You know, I knew guys thatthey'll crack, they'll heroin,
all this crazy stuff.
When fentanyl was on the riseand all these laws started
coming around that that reallyput stiff penalties on the you
know distribution of this stuff,guys were like man, I'm just so
sweet because I mean, mean, Ithink it was like you could get
(24:15):
like up to three kilos was afelony three and it's like three
kilos, man, you get caught withthree keys.
That is that's a lot of weedfor real.
You know that's a lot of weedto get caught with.
But I mean, if you're going todo three years for three keys
like, or up to five maybe, butthat's nothing Like you get
(24:38):
caught with one kilogram ofcocaine, that's a felony one.
That's three to 11 years, youknow.
So I mean the sentencingguidelines were like hugely
different there.
So weed was kind of the way tolike keep the lights on as you
kind of transition to gettingout of the streets for real.
(24:58):
At least that's how Iexperienced it with you know, my
guys that were trying to makethat transition and shout out to
the guys by the way, man, Iain't going to put no names out
there, but I'm proud of you forreal, for the ones that made it
happen and the ones thatconsidered it happen, man, give
it another reconsideration,because I'm telling you it's
nice over here on the other side, man, on the legit side, I'm a
(25:22):
lame, full-on square.
Life is grand like a thousand,you hear me.
But you know I'm gonna end thishere, man, because I had a
longer episode and my computerfroze and it got deleted, so
it's going to be a short one.
You know I got to get my kidsto bed, but I love you guys, man
(25:45):
.
I appreciate you guys forsticking in there and please
like, share, subscribe and hitup the social media outlets that
we own.
You know, we got the TikTok, wegot Facebook, instagram.
I do got a Twitter.
I ain't gonna lie, man, I don'teven know the long end for it.
I'm gonna have to get on there.
If y'all want me on Twitter,man, y'all just gotta let me
(26:06):
know.
I'll put in the work I promiseAll right, but I mean,
definitely go check me out onTikTok.
I'm trying to push that heavyright now.
So if you're on TikTok, hit meup, Watch these little jewels
that I be dropping on there, allright, but anyway, man, I love
you guys.
Thank you, good night Peace.
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