Colorado Governor Polis Pardons Over 1300 People For Minor Marijuana Crimes

On Thursday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis pardoned 1,351 people for minor marijuana possession crimes, The Hill reported.

Apart from granting individuals pardons for drug charges by inking an executive order, Polis also lifted lifting three commutations and fifteen other individual pardons for prisoners.

The move follows the governor signing a bill - House Bill 1090 - in May that doubled the marijuana possession limit for adults 21 and older.

That piece of legislation not only increased cannabis possession limit but also sought to identify people with prior convictions for up to 2 ounces of pot possession and clear their records.

"This is a fascinating bill in the vein of criminal justice reform because, for far too long, the consequences for people who had a personal amount of cannabis before it had been legalized still had a long shadow on them, so for doing something that is fully legal today," Polis commented on the bill earlier this year.

The measure built on Amendment 64, which was legalized marijuana and passed in 2012.

"Adults can legally possess marijuana in Colorado, just as they can beer or wine," Polis said in the statement. "It's unfair that 1,351 additional Coloradans had permanent blemishes on their record that interfered with employment, credit, and gun ownership, but today we have fixed that by pardoning their possession of small amounts of marijuana that occurred during the failed prohibition era."