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> Many of them are truly good people.

If prison hasn't fucked them up. I really hope these people will find their way in society if there's ever a pardon, because it might be really had to adapt to normal life, even if you ended up in jail for something as stupidly innocuous as smoking weed.

>US prisons are absolutely packed with young marijuana dealers/users with effectively lifetime sentences.

No they aren't. Only 20% of inmates are in jail for drug offenses and only a tiny fraction (if there's even one) is on a life time sentence for dealing weed.

Effectively a life sentence I think means they’ll have a hard time finding a job once they get out resulting in likely reoffending at some point and ending up back in jail.

A small fraction is in for possession only, and even that is misleading considering the prevalence of plea deals and career criminals.

When I was younger, a lot of my friends sold the occasional bit of pot. As far as I know the vast majority of them are productive members of society nowadays.

> US prisons are absolutely packed with young marijuana dealers/users with effectively lifetime sentences.

Just not at all true.