South Carolina State Representatives JA Moore and Bill Herbkersman have filed legislation that would lead to the automatic expungement of marijuana charges every 4/20.
The bipartisan House Bill 4358 was filed today in alignment with the 4/20 marijuana holiday. It’s been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
The one-page measure states: “On April twentieth each year, the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services is directed to issue pardons to at least twenty percent of persons previously convicted of simple possession of marijuana pursuant to the provisions of Section 44-53-370 who have completed their sentence, including any portion of probation or parole.”
The provisions of this section “apply only to the pardoning of the offense of simple possession of marijuana and not to other unrelated convictions.”
Under current South Carolina law, the possession of even a small amount of marijuana is punishable by a misdemeanor and up to 30 days and jail for a first offense, and up to a year for subsequent offenses.
“It’s backwards to continue to incarcerate people just for simple marijuana possession,” said Representative Moore. “Pardoning these folks is the right thing to do, especially when their ‘crime’ is legal in nearly half of the states. This should continue to get bipartisan support.”
