Some good things are happening for the city of Philadelphia here in 2018. Their football team, the Eagles, won their first Super Bowl in team history. Now their new District Attorney Larry Krasner, who took office in January, has been striking some significant blows against the age-old war on drugs, including big pharma.
The DA for the City of Brotherly Love reportedly dropped over 50 low-level court cases involving the possession of cannabis. Krasner said that even though most of the time people who are caught with weed in Philly are issued citations, some are still arrested – and he had seen a recent increase in such arrests, which he found to be unacceptable. He says that those resources wasted on cannabis arrests could be put towards solving more serious cases and prosecuting real criminals – which is something we cannabis advocates have been saying for years. Krasner will drop these cases and won’t prosecute anyone for being caught with small amounts of cannabis. The DA’s decision also comes along with an end to a cash bail requirement for several other misdemeanors.
In addition to dropping low-level cannabis cases, Krasner recently announced that his office would file a lawsuit against ten pharmaceutical corporations. His office says that the actions of these companies violate consumer protection laws and are operating under unfair trade practices in the eyes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“The City of Philadelphia has been hurt, more than any other city in the nation, by the scourge of opioids. The time to act is now, which is why I’ve taken this unprecedented action, in parallel with the City of Philadelphia’s suit, to stop these companies from systematically distracting the public from knowing the true dangers of opioid use as they reap billions of dollars in profits,” Krasner said in a press release.
This is great news for Philadelphia and for the state of Pennsylvania as a whole. It’s great to see some elected officials like Krasner reflecting the will of the American people when it comes to ending the war on cannabis. Before taking office as District Attorney in January, Krasner was a civil rights attorney in Philadelphia. He was most popularly known for suing the police department, so he’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. Let’s hope he keeps it up, and helps lead the way for full legalization in the Keystone State.
