‘A question of fairness’: Mayor details steps to pardon Kansas City marijuana crimes
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas will pardon decades worth of municipal marijuana offenses, saying in his announcement Tuesday that the move is “fundamentally a question of fairness.”
Society has grown more lenient toward marijuana in recent years, Lucas said, and people with old convictions shouldn’t be held to harsher punishments than are being doled out now.
Lucas said he does not currently use marijuana, though he acknowledged he had in the past. He said he wants to give those with old convictions a second chance.
“When you look at the sources of public safety challenges in our community, it is not those who are using recreational or small amounts of marijuana,” Lucas said, “and what I want to be able to do for these folks is to say, ‘You might have made a mistake at some point,’ but that we’re going to be fair in how we apply, frankly, the law in Kansas City and in Missouri.”
It’s been two and a half years since Kansas City voters dramatically eased municipal penalties for marijuana possession. Missouri is setting up its fledgling industry for medical pot. Jackson County prosecutors have stopped charging many drug crimes.
And Lucas said he supports legalizing recreational marijuana statewide, though he acknowledged that may be a long way off.
Pardoning past offenders in Kansas City, Lucas said, is the “responsible” thing for his office to do.
“Society can’t just simply say … in 2020, we think marijuana is OK, but if you were somebody who got in trouble in 2019, or if you’re somebody who’s getting in trouble today but you just don’t happen to be pursuing a medical marijuana license, or you just don’t happen to be in the right place, or you can’t afford a lawyer when you’re stopped — that you should have to suffer some greater imposition of sentence than someone else can,” Lucas said.
Lucas campaigned last year on pardoning marijuana crimes. In Tuesday’s announcement, he laid out the steps for those convicted of a municipal offense to apply for such a pardon. Doing so, he said, could remove pending fines, parole conditions or other penalties for some offenders.
It won’t apply to everyone who has faced marijuana charges — only those convicted by the city’s municipal court. Lucas has no power to pardon offenders convicted of state or federal marijuana crimes. And his office can’t expunge a person’s conviction, as he had previously said he hoped. Those pardoned of their marijuana offenses will still have records, ones they may often have to disclose on job or housing applications.
But Lucas saw the pardons as a key step to help people “move beyond past drug convictions, particularly minor drug convictions.”
“This actually does, as I would see it, really lay out a path for people to eventually seek more expungements as well,” Lucas said.
He added that he hopes his office will be able to work with outside organizations to help more people apply for expungement through the court system.
The mayor’s office will process what Lucas predicted in his State of the City address last week could be thousands of applications.
Pardons will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and not every offender will qualify.
“If you were caught with narcotics and a firearm, then that’s the sort of situation where we will not be making a pardon,” Lucas said. He said his office will be coming up with standards.
Beyond Tuesday’s announcement, Lucas sees potential for action on marijuana. In his address last week, he said he would support removing marijuana from the municipal code altogether, getting Kansas City out of the practice of charging and convicting pot users.
His vision, he said, differs from a failed one brought last year by Councilman Brandon Ellington, who sought to decriminalize possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana. Ellington’s proposal was unfavorably amended on the City Council floor and then killed in late October.
“What we’re saying is it’s just not an ordinance violation,” Lucas said. “You still have Missouri state law to which you are subject. You still have federal law to which you are subject.”
Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said police would continue to pursue cases according to existing law.
“We are committed to enforcing city, state and federal ordinances as they are passed and will continue to do so until a time comes that there is a change in ordinance,” Becchina said.
How to seek a pardon
Those seeking a pardon for past marijuana offenses can apply at kcmo.gov/mayoralpardon.
Applicants are asked to provide a case number, approximate date of conviction and description of the charge and attach copies of their relevant court documents. Those hoping for a pardon can request their records from Kansas City Municipal Court.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 5:37 PM with the headline "‘A question of fairness’: Mayor details steps to pardon Kansas City marijuana crimes."
