Ross: Should pardons come along with legal Marijuana?

Retail pot shops are open for business in Massachusetts. It’s the first pot domino on the East Coast.

And the first customer? The Mayor of Northampton, who bought a chocolate bar, which according to the label contains 54.81 milligrams of premium marijuana distillate, with instructions to “Start with one piece” and “Wait two hours.”

However…

“I am actually going to probably preserve it, and display it,” Mayor David Narkewicz told the media. “Because it is historically significant.”

You know, not too long ago, the police would have preserved it too – and displayed it! As evidence. In fact, CBS’s Tony Dokoupil, who interviewed the mayor, knows something about that.

“My own father, believe it or not, stood federal trial for marijuana smuggling in this very state,” Dokoupil said on a live broadcast. “Today he feels vindicated. But he can’t really handle this new stuff. He says it’s too strong.”

The anchor joked that Dokoupil’s father was ahead of his time.

There is a humorous irony to it. The problem is that there are thousands still serving their time for being ahead of it.

Some cities will now automatically vacate convictions for misdemeanor possession before pot was legal, but it seems to me the president should just issue blanket pardons. We need the prison space for the really bad guys. And if he can look past what that Saudi prince did, he can certainly cut some slack for people whose only crime was bad timing.

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