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Comment by huntermeyer | Hacker News Reader

> It includes measures to expunge the federal criminal records of those charged or convicted for non-violent cannabis offenses

I feel this line is what'll cause the bill to not pass in the Senate.

I don't see why the removal of cannabis from the scheduled drugs list needs to be coupled with criminal record expungement. Do one. Then move to do the next.

Is this how things are usually done?

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The problem is you would have people doing 5-20 (or whatever) for something that is no longer illegal. It seems unfair, so when the law is changed like this I think it’s common to adjust the sentences of people currently in prison.

Yes, this is typically how politics works. Bills should pass by a very narrow margin. Excess votes represents potential political energy. If a bill passes with a large margin, that means that there was probably something else that could have been added that would have lost some of those votes, but not enough to still not pass. It's all a game of The Price Is Right, getting closest to the number but not going over.

> Is this how things are usually done?

Yes, you pack the politically tenuous stuff in with the widely supported stuff so you put the opposing side in an optically bad position if they reject it.

The headlines will be “Senate rejects marijuana decriminalization bill supported by majority of population” rather than “Senate rejects criminal record expungement”.

Politics are fucked in this country.

The only thing messed up is that someone would consider expunging convictions from a law that violated people's freedom to consume a substance that does no harm to anyone else as "politically tenuous".

Yes, often even intentionally to reduce the changes of a bill passing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrecking_amendment

I assume that you mean "reduce chances of the bill passing", adding this rider would increase the changes if the bill passes!

Ah yes, thank you!

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