Bernard Noble finally granted parole after being sentenced to 13 years for possessing two marijuana joints

bernard noble was sentenced to 13 years in prison for possessing two marijuana joints. early last month, after serving over eight years in a louisiana prison, noble was finally granted parole. his case drew national attention and considerable outrage, especially after the legalization of marijuana in some states.  

noble was riding his bike up a one-way street the wrong way when he was stopped by the police. they found two marijuana joints in his possession, and he also had two prior low-level drug law violations in his record. 

the drug policy alliance filed a a friend of the court brief in the louisiana supreme court in 2014, calling for judicial relief, but the appeal was denied. in 2015, the board of pardons and parole rejected noble's petition for clemency because he hadn't served more than 10 years in prison.

louisiana state law requires prisoners to have been in custody of the department of corrections for a minimum of 10 years before they'll consider an individual's application for clemency.

noble's sentence highlights the draconian nature of the marijuana laws in many states across the country. attorney general jeff sessions vociferously advocates for these cruel and inhumane policies, and wants to arbitrarily punish first-time, non-violent offenders without legal recourse. 

a number of states, in contrast to louisiana, have legalized and decriminalized possession of marijuana for personal use. according to a new report by the drug policy alliance, total marijuana arrests in legal marijuana states have plummeted - saving hundreds of millions of dollars - sparing thousands of people from a lifetime criminal record. 

more than 500,000 people each year get arrested in the u.s. for getting caught with small amounts of marijuana. their arrests impact not just them as individuals, but their families, their communities, and society as a whole. 


  

Supervised Consumption Services approved in San Francisco

san francisco, in early february, became the first city in the u.s. to implement supervised consumption services (scs). this historic victory, unanimously supported by the san francisco health commission, allows the city to begin offering services this july.

supervised consumption services are legally sanctioned facilities proven to reduce the personal risks and public health issues associated with intravenous drug use. these facilities already exist in australia, canada and europe, and, with great success.

participants in these facilities will have access to sterile injecting equipment, counseling, health care, and referrals to health and social services. the bold measures are expected to reduce overdose deaths, save lives and keep city neighborhoods cleaner. 

cities who currently host the 120 active scs around the world have witnessed a dramatic reduction in street-based drug use and syringe disposal, as well as increasingly lower hiv-positive and hepatitis transmission rates.      

Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego will retroactively apply marijuana reforms

seattle mayor jenny durkan and seattle attorney general pete holmes will vacate misdemeanor marijuana-possession convictions prosecuted by the city prior to 2012. these reforms are expected to impact about 600 people.

durkan said these convictions disproportionately harm blacks, and create barriers to credit, education, housing and jobs. "while we cannot reverse all the harm that was done, we can give back to those people a record that says they were not convicted, because that is the more just thing to do," durkan said. she hopes county and state officials will follow suit.

two other cities have decided to retroactively apply marijuana reforms. in san francisco, district attorney george cascon will apply california's new marijuana legalization laws to misdemeanor and felony convictions going back to 1975. san diego will also clear or downgrade past misdemeanor marijuana and felony marijuana convictions.

Chicago Police Department gang database exposes immigrants to deportation

the chicago police department (cpd) exposes black and brown immigrants to deportation because of systemic errors in their gang database. the cpd says changes to the database would be "unworkable."

the cpd gang database includes 65,000 individuals - 95% are black and brown. luis pedrote-salinas is suing the cpd. pedrote-salinas feels being wrongly designated as a gang member prevents him for protection under the deferred action for childhood arrivals (daca) program. he says he's not in a gang, but there's no official process to remove him from the database.

in another case, the cpd admitted they lacked evidence for labeling an undocumented man as a gang member. as such, he was eventually disqualified from applying for a visa, due to being unduly stigmatized. 

michel martin, a member of the midwest gang investors association, says gang databases should regularly be cleared of wrong information to protect the civil rights of people. martin notes police departments who fail to do this could eventually be forced to clear their databases.