50 Shades of Green: Legalization of Marijuana

From the heart of Ohio comes a raw, unfiltered look at a jarring contradiction—the celebration of legal marijuana while thousands remain behind bars for the same substance. Remie tackles this paradox head-on, exposing the troubling reality of Ohio's recreational cannabis legalization that created a thriving new market but offers zero relief to those still suffering from past convictions.

Drawing from personal experience and conversations with those affected, Remie reveals how legalization without retroactive relief creates two separate worlds: one where cannabis means profit and opportunity, another where it still means destroyed lives and ongoing punishment. The picture becomes even more troubling when examining how Black and lower-income communities, disproportionately targeted during prohibition, now face systematic exclusion from the legal industry through licensing barriers specifically tied to prior convictions.

What injustices do you see in your community that need addressing? Share your thoughts and join the conversation on our social platforms—your voice matters in creating the change we need.

Sources:

PubMed Central: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9170008/

Brain Smith Law: https://www.briansmithlaw.com/ohio-recreational-marijuana-uses-and-penalties

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Life Updates
• 5:12 Ohio's Marijuana Legalization Paradox
• 10:24 The Human Cost of Outdated Laws
• 16:39 Legalization Without Justice
• 23:09 Call for Action and Better Solutions
• 25:24 Reflections and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:04

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Lockdown with Legacy. I'm your host, remy Jones, and today I got something special for you. Now, unfortunately, that special is not DJ. She's not going to be on this episode, but I do have a good episode for you. And before I get into that, I wanted to first apologize to all of my loyal listeners and all of my new listeners for kind of dropping the ball on some of these episodes where I've been by myself. I feel like I should put a lot more effort into that. So, with me, you know, in the spirit of keeping it real, I just wanted to apologize to you guys about that.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Now, another segment, before I get into the episode is a life update. Get into the episode is a life update. You could probably hear my children in the background and that is because I love them so much I wasn't able to, you know, get the space to myself. But that's all right, I'm still going to give you guys what we got and you might just hear House, full of Love, in the background. Hope you're all right with that To update us. Of course you can hear my kids. Everything's great, man, kids are great, life is great.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Dj graduated and we are approaching her graduation ceremony. That's going to be awesome. All the grandparents, the parents and the kids get to be there to see her in her regalia getting her PhD diploma. And I couldn't be more proud, right? I think we all can be, after we've pretty much gone through this journey together, right? So I mean you guys are in on it too. Please send your love on the social media and the email, you know. Send your love to her and support because, man, she deserves it. She bust her ass for this, right. In other news, man, like I know you guys are probably excited hearing of it, but we got these house projects. We're getting them going. It's warm out, you know, the kids are getting involved. I couldn't be more happy about it, especially to just see the progress.

Speaker 1: 3:10

In general, man, like, one thing about me is just seeing it stagnate, man, it kind of brings about a depression or something you know. So seeing it pick up and, you know, take root the progress of it is just awesome. In my personal, like in my personal life, which is almost non-existent, to be honest. Um, work is good, man. Um, I've embarked on a weight loss journey, you know. For those who've known me long-term, you know I used to be chippy that's what I call it. You know, used to be ripped man, um, and I just I just kind of want to get back to that former glory. So I've embarked on that journey and I mean the last month has been good to me. I've lost, I think, 19 pounds in the last month. So you know, stuff's working right. So I mean I'll give you guys updates on that. I don't mind sharing it. You know I'm an open book.

Speaker 1: 4:05

So, other than that man, I want to just go ahead and get to the story. If you guys don't mind this episode today. I mean it's going to be a little heavy. I think it should be at least, because right now in Ohio, you can legally walk into any dispensary, buy marijuana and go home smiling. Buy marijuana and go home smiling, while somebody just a few miles away could be sitting in a prison cell for doing the exact same thing just a few years ago. Now, it might not have been the exact same thing. I might have been, you know, fred, down the street to sell blood, whatever, but just the act of buying or transporting marijuana a few years ago could have, you know, landed you behind bars.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Now Ohio legalized recreational marijuana in November 2023, but for thousands still incarcerated for marijuana possession and distribution under the old laws, like what does that mean for them? That legalization never really unlocked their doors or sales or gave them any kind of relief. So today we're asking, like, what happens when the laws move forward but the people harmed by the laws get left behind? You know? And what does justice really demand of us right now? Like, what does it look like for them? And, of course, you can't make everybody happy. So how do you find a happy medium for everybody involved? You know.

Speaker 1: 5:35

So let's start with the basics. You know issue two, which is the law that legalized recreational marijuana in Ohio. It was passed in November 2023, making it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to two and a half ounces of marijuana. Now, I used to smoke pretty regularly back when I was, you know, younger Notice the ER on there younger. But two and a half ounces of marijuana is not, like that's, not little boy weed bro, like that's we're about to go to a party type stuff. But anyway, you're allowed to possess up to two and a half ounces. You're allowed to grow marijuana. You're allowed to grow six plants individually. Um, if there's more than one person in the household, 21 and over, you can grow up to 12 plants in the house and you're allowed to purchase marijuana, but it has to be from a licensed dispensary. Now it's a brand new market.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Man that brings jobs, that brings taxes. You know that brings excitement for the government, right, those are the ooh. Those are like hot words. You know, like taxes and jobs Everybody's. You know elections going on, everybody wants to talk about taxes and jobs that they're bringing around.

Speaker 1: 6:51

But you know and this is a big but the law does not apply retroactively. So that means there's no automatic release for people who were convicted of possession or distribution prior to 2023. There's no automatic expungement for their records. There's no automatic sentence reductions for people convicted under those old laws. I mean, we're basically living in two Ohios and I mean to get on a tangent real quick, there's many more Ohios than just these two. Like these two are just talking about weed.

Speaker 1: 7:27

But I've talked before about like old law, new law inside. And you know, every time a law passes, it doesn't necessarily have to go retroactively. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. So there are many people in prison for the same crimes and they all have different sentence structures, you know. So you know I ain't going to get too big into that rabbit hole.

Speaker 1: 7:51

But what I really wanted to say is you know, marijuana is a business opportunity for some and for another, like it's still a reason that their life is messed up, you know, like they're still dealing with the prison sentence, they're still still dealing with the um collateral sanctions, they're still dealing with the supervision post prison. You know, and that's real messed up, especially if you're somebody who, like the people around you, are excited about weed. They're using it whether it's recreationally, whether it's medicinal, and you're still going to check in with your PO about that weed charge that you had. You know that's. I mean, I can't see that as any kind of justice. So what exactly does this Ohio law change? Right, thanks to guidance from Brian Smith's law I mean, here's the quick version right? Private possession and use are legal within limits. Public use, distribution without a license and operating the vehicle while you're high are still legal. But here's what's missing there's no built-in system to help people harmed by previous marijuana convictions. I keep saying that right Meanwhile, I mean harsh penalties of the past still haunt.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Many Ohioans Possession over 200 grams. That's a felony Distribution of five kilograms, like that's, I think, an F3, you know, a felony three, I think it's. Possession over 200 grams is a felony five, and I mean that's just the technical side of it To put those into perspective for people who don't know. A felony five, I think can give you up to 12 months in prison and a felony three I think can give you up to three years, you know. So I mean, I always say any time in prison is a real time. I don't necessarily think that any time is just a little bit to be overlooked, right? According to a 2022 study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, black Americans are nearly's like man. It was just a little bit of weed, and the laws are kind of excessive when it comes to sentencing. But they're not what do you call it? They're not really enforced. You know the same for everyone, so you know.

Speaker 1: 10:49

Post-legalization a lot of states often see the same racial disparities play out in the who benefits from the new legal market right. People of color are systematically excluded from licensing opportunities and face major barriers to clearing their criminal records. I mean, of course, they're not trying to give no license to somebody who's a felon, but I mean, like I said, if you were selling weed to support your family previous to the law passing and now you're trying to get the licensure so you can do it legitimately, like they're barring you from that, but they're giving these licenses to corporations led by, I mean, white people, not to make it, you know, racial, but I mean it doesn't help the people who chose this, like really, I mean those are the professionals, right, they know the system, but they're kept out of it and you know they continue to suffer while others line their pockets and then they pay the taxes that line the government's pockets and everybody on the legit side is all happy, right? So, even as the law claims to change, the system still replicates the old injustices in new ways. I mean, let's talk about the real human costs, right? Imagine this you were arrested for selling a few ounces of marijuana, you got sentenced under outdated laws, you've missed birthdays, holidays, plenty of opportunities, and now you face the collateral sanctions. And then you watch on TV, as people do legally and profitably, what you're still being punished for, like it isn't theoretical really. I mean this is happening across Ohio, this is happening across some other states. I mean there are people serving five, 10, 20 years for nonviolent marijuana offenses. Right, the trauma of incarceration doesn't just vanish when the laws change outside the walls. I mean really, it compounds it. Right, I spoke with a guy man and he served seven years for marijuana possession with the intent to distribute. And he told me, like it's like the world moves on without me, you know, but they're getting rich off of it. Now All I did I mean all it did was break his life, is what he said, you know, like, and his story's not really rare.

Speaker 1: 13:16

Like the Public Health Journal article points out that criminal records, specifically for drug offenses, dramatically reduced chances for housing, employment and education. Um, and I can relate to that. Like, when I got out of prison, my my case wasn't necessarily drug related, but I tried to go to um Ohio university, which I went to briefly before I transferred to Ohio State University, and they told me I wasn't allowed to attend on their campuses because of my criminal record. And so it's like, dude the heck. I mean, in many other states like Ohio, that means marijuana convictions continue to punish after the sentence technically ends. And that's not just marijuana convictions but, as we know, that's all kinds of convictions. You don't just simply do your time for the crime. It's pretty much a life sentence, unless you can find some sort of reprieve in the form of a pardon or clemency or whatever.

Speaker 1: 14:18

But let's be real, man, some states got it right. You know everybody's not Ohio, everybody's not doing it like us, but like Illinois, california, new York, I mean they built in when they legalized marijuana, they built in automatic expungement into their legalization laws. You know Ohio not so much. No automatic record clearing, no automatic release, no built-in reparations for communities disproportionately harmed, no sentence reductions. You know nothing. I mean really I don't even think they even talked about it. I mean I don't know if they did or not, I'm just saying nothing came about, nothing's on the record. You know Now Governor DeWine hasn't really prioritized clemency for marijuana offenses and legislative leaders are silent.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Meanwhile the research shows that without structured expungement programs, disparities in who benefits from legalization only grow wider over time. I mean advocacy groups in Ohio are fighting for retroactive relief, calling for clemency, sentence reductions, record clearing, but I mean without policy level action. It's an uphill battle and this silence from leadership isn't really neutral either, like it's another form of injustice. I mean I already told you the black and brown communities really, and lower class communities I don't even. Let's get it really raised for real Lower class communities are probably really close and could benefit the most from it. If they were to structure this right, it could bring a lot of people up out of poverty by you know, if they had the opportunities.

Speaker 1: 16:03

But we talk about opportunities all the time and lack of opportunities, so where does that leave us? I mean marijuana legalization without mass expungement, without clemency, without reparations. That's just profit without justice, really. I mean the government saw a way that they could, you know, kind of give the people what they want and make a lot of money off of it. I mean, just just be real right Now. It's a new industry, if you want to look at it like that, but it's built on old pain. You know, this is built on top of a lot of people who suffered behind us and it's a market where some thrive while others are still marked as felons. You can have two people with the same professions, with the same knowledge, with the same know-how, and one of them is despised by society and one of them is hailed as an entrepreneur and bringing jobs to the community, you know.

Speaker 1: 17:03

So if we're serious about legacy, if we're serious about ending cycles of incarceration, then legalization can't just be about the money part, you know. It can't just be about the recreation and the fun. It has to be about, like, making this right. And it has to be about people, you know. It has to be about healing the harm that was done. Justice demands retroactive relief, because those are the people who matter the most really, you know. Justice demands liberation, not just for legislation, because if we leave our brothers and sisters, cousins, neighbors and friends behind while the rest of us move on forward, that's not a legacy worth celebrating.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Now let's say, someone does get out, they serve their time for a marijuana offense. That's now legal, they're free, right. But what kind of freedom is it when a felony still follows you everywhere? We talked about that already on plenty of episodes. You know the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. We have an article from them that kind of lays it out clearly Like criminal records, especially from drug charges. Perpetuate racialized social control, even after legalization. Perpetuate racialized social control even after legalization. Like employers can deny jobs, landlords can refuse leases, federal financial aid is restricted. Some licenses, most licenses, you know kind of, and most specifically like for working in the legal cannabis industry are off limits if you have any type of drug felony. So I mean, let that sink in. Like you can't work in the very industry that replaced your prison sentence. Like dude, what the heck. Like.

Speaker 1: 18:52

I feel like if anybody should overlook a weed charge or a drug conviction or anything, it should be this industry. Right, and this isn't just personal harm, like this is structural. This is you know what's the word Systemic, you know this is like it traps people in cycles of poverty and instability and surveillance, you know, and, yes, in recidivism. You know, without reentry, support and record clearing, legalizationization like it all becomes just another empty promise. You know, and really I think that's what it's supposed to be. It's kind of like a distraction. You know, like, hey, look what we're giving you, look what we're doing for you. But I mean, think about all the money. This is a booming industry. Think about all the money. This is a booming industry. Like the money they're raking in while they're kind of like patting themselves on the back. Look what we did.

Speaker 1: 19:54

But I mean, don't look over there at all these people suffering, right, know, like first automatic expungement, you know, and I'm not talking about big time traffickers, man, because I mean, I admit all, all drug charges ain't equal and we gotta do you know, we gotta admit it was illegal at the time. But we're talking about, like, petty possession. You know, um, you get pulled over, you got a joint, you got a couple bags of weed, whatever. Like, come on, man, we're not talking about the brick man who got caught with 50 bricks. You know like, we're not talking about that. We're talking about the average citizen. Like, give them some type of. You know, give them a bone man, throw the smog out of that bone. So you know, automatic expungement for the smog period no hoops, no red tape. Like, if the law changed, the record should change right.

Speaker 1: 20:49

Second, you know, retroactive resentencing and clemency. Now that's where I think even the big players in the Wii game, if they're not going to get no automatic expungement, we should at least be re-sentencing Census reductions and stuff like that. I mean, we got to go back to those still inside. Legalization means Nothing if they stay forgotten. And you know.

Speaker 1: 21:17

Third, like, invest in reentry support, not just housing and jobs, but mental health care, trauma healing. You know, community reconnection Get these people some help so that they don't have to do it the illegal way. Like, obviously they have some type of knowledge, some type of talent, and now society is starting to embrace it, when they before were shunned. So bring them in, you know, bring them in and let them be on the inside, let them be players at the table for real, because I mean they could be the next you know, ceo of one of these companies, dispensaries, whatever. You know CEO of one of these companies, dispensaries, whatever and they could be productive parts of society if they were given a shot.

Speaker 1: 22:10

I mean and we're not really talking about doing this blindly you know, we have to reinvest in these communities that were most harmed and it's not done like, like we don't know how. You know. I mean, we have models. You know, illinois did it, new York is trying to do it. Like, if we're supposed to be the heart of it all, then put some heart into it, Right. So I mean us as um members of society, all of my listeners, man, like, here's my challenge to you is, like you know, do your part. You know, sign up to vote, call into your elected officials, man, email your state reps, support organizations advocating for record relief. You know, tell your story if you've been affected by this. Share someone else's story if you've been close to them, you know, and you supported them through it.

Speaker 1: 23:01

But keep on the pressure because really as long as we kind of just all watch it and wait for what happens, you know, we all you know, there's that old adage where it's kind of like nobody did anything because they thought somebody else would do it, Like nothing's going to happen. Everybody voted to pass the weed law, you know, cool, like go back and make sure that it's done right, because you know change doesn't happen just because the law passed for real Like we've seen many laws get passed and because everybody thought that was the end of the fight, it pretty much just fizzled and nothing happened. So we got to stay on it, you know, and it's got to happen because the masses refuse to settle for it to be done half-assed, right. So I mean, that's me, that's just my plea to everybody To kind of go back and talk about some of the sentencing. You know, for marijuana, marijuana charges are stiff for the small guy. Everything's a matter of perspective, right? When we talk about the big players in marijuana, the laws are kind of lax actually, you know. So when we're talking about not on the legal side because really that's kind of a gray area for me. I got to be honest I don't really know the most about the ins and outs of legalized marijuana, but I can tell you all about the darker side of the old days, right when it was the wild wild west. You all about the darker side of the old days, right when it was the wild wild west. But I knew guys that were like you know, they sold drugs their whole life and weed was kind of like the gateway drug, if you want to look at it in reverse. So you know, everybody says weed is gateway drug to harder stuff, but really it was the gateway drug away from harder stuff. You know, I knew guys that they'll crack, they'll heroin, all this crazy stuff.

Speaker 1: 25:02

When fentanyl was on the rise and all these laws started coming around that that really put stiff penalties on the you know distribution of this stuff, guys were like man, I'm just so sweet because I mean, mean, I think it was like you could get like up to three kilos was a felony three and it's like three kilos, man, you get caught with three keys. That is that's a lot of weed for real. You know that's a lot of weed to get caught with. But I mean, if you're going to do three years for three keys like, or up to five maybe, but that's nothing Like you get caught with one kilogram of cocaine, that's a felony one. That's three to 11 years, you know. So I mean the sentencing guidelines were like hugely different there.

Speaker 1: 25:57

So weed was kind of the way to like keep the lights on as you kind of transition to getting out of the streets for real. At least that's how I experienced it with you know, my guys that were trying to make that transition and shout out to the guys by the way, man, I ain't going to put no names out there, but I'm proud of you for real, for the ones that made it happen and the ones that considered it happen, man, give it another reconsideration, because I'm telling you it's nice over here on the other side, man, on the legit side, I'm a lame, full-on square. Life is grand like a thousand, you hear me. But you know I'm gonna end this here, man, because I had a longer episode and my computer froze and it got deleted, so it's going to be a short one. You know I got to get my kids to bed, but I love you guys, man.

Speaker 1: 26:49

I appreciate you guys for sticking in there and please like, share, subscribe and hit up the social media outlets that we own. You know, we got the TikTok, we got Facebook, instagram. I do got a Twitter. I ain't gonna lie, man, I don't even know the long end for it. I'm gonna have to get on there. If y'all want me on Twitter, man, y'all just gotta let me know. I'll put in the work I promise All right, but I mean, definitely go check me out on TikTok. I'm trying to push that heavy right now. So if you're on TikTok, hit me up, Watch these little jewels that I be dropping on there, all right, but anyway, man, I love you guys. Thank you, good night Peace.