Granville, OH–(ENEWSPF)–September 19, 2014. According to a new analysis by the Clemency Report, some states are still suspending the driver’s licenses of convicted cannabis offenders unrelated to any actual driving offense (as part of a federal law called the 1992 Solomon-Lautenberg Act).
The report finds that a majority of states have abandoned enforcing this unfunded federal mandate, with thirty-four states having repealed or never having adopted the policy.
States that rigorously enforce ‘smoke a joint, lose your license’ laws are, in order of severity based on 2010 data analysis, Virginia (29,086), New York (28,689), Florida (24,430), Texas (23,821) and Pennsylvania (19,969).
Commenting on the report’s findings, NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup says, “punishing cannabis offenders by suspending their driver’s license for non-driving related offenses is illogical, a waste of taxpayer money and sets a bad legal precedent. The remaining fourteen states that enforce this antiquated federal law should immediately cease doing so in cases that do not involve impaired driving.”
Read the entire report at http://clemencyreport.org/drivers-license-suspensions-drug-offenses-state-state-list/. View a map of enforcement of ‘smoke a join, lose your license’ laws at http://clemencyreport.org/states-suspend-drivers-license-drug-possession-list/.
Source: http://norml.org
