Spokane may look back at pot convictions

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Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Jan 12, 2018

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Spokane may look back at pot convictions</h1>
                <h2><p>Spokane City Council's president wants to allow anyone found guilty of pot possession in its city court to have their convictions overturned. The Spokesman-Review reports that the proposal by the council leader, Ben Stuckart, grew out of his work on racial justice issues; members of minority groups tended</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Spokane City Council's president wants to allow anyone found guilty of pot possession in its city court to have their convictions overturned. <a href="http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/oct/20/spokane-considering-throwing-out-minor-pot-possess/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">The Spokesman-Review reports</a> that the proposal by the council leader, Ben Stuckart, grew out of his work on racial justice issues; members of minority groups tended to be convicted for marijuana possession at higher rates. He notes that convictions, even for the possession of now-legal pot, can make it harder for people to get jobs or rental housing.</p><p>The proposal is modeled on one that failed to win approval in the Legislature earlier this year.</p>
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Spokane City Council's president wants to allow anyone found guilty of pot possession in its city court to have their convictions overturned. The Spokesman-Review reports that the proposal by the council leader, Ben Stuckart, grew out of his work on racial justice issues; members of minority groups tended to be convicted for marijuana possession at higher rates. He notes that convictions, even for the possession of now-legal pot, can make it harder for people to get jobs or rental housing.

The proposal is modeled on one that failed to win approval in the Legislature earlier this year.

By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi