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It's anecdotal, but all of the ex-cons I've met in Canada ended up getting stuck in a vicious circle of drug abuse after getting disappointed about their legal
by dpc59 9y ago
It's anecdotal, but all of the ex-cons I've met in Canada ended up getting stuck in a vicious circle of drug abuse after getting disappointed about their legal job prospects (around minimum wage), going back to dealing drugs a few months after probation is done and being unable to handle having an almost infinite supply of said drugs. After a couple of years of hardcore drug use there's no way someone would even hire them, so they're stuck on welfare and crime with nothing to do but getting high.
- swift 9y agoIt's tragic and cruel how a felony conviction can destroy someone's life over a nonviolent drug offense. Growing up, I knew some people who got felony convictions for possession of marijuana. Now recreational cannabis is legal in a number of states, and it's upsetting to think that the trajectory of their lives could have been totally different if they had been born a decade later.
- glangdale 9y agoIt seems like a 'blanket pardon' for anyone who has no other offenses beyond dealing something that is now legal could go a little way towards helping fix this. It also seems that reforms of sentencing where the maximum penalty was grossly disproportionate (think crack vs cocaine) could have retroactive implementation as well (downgrading spurious felonies to misdemeanors). Not saying you can give people back the trajectory of their lives, of course, but it might help at the margins.