Osler's Razor

I know-- the big news right now is about the Trump-Ukraine fiasco, and I do have things to say about that (as I did earlier this week). I'm going to wait until some more facts come out (and they will) before I launch back into that.

Yesterday, I was in Los Angeles to speak at the launching of The Weldon Project,  It's a simple idea, being brought forward by one of my former pro bono clemency clients, Weldon Angelos. Here's the idea: Those in prison for marijuana offenses should get clemency, and legal marijuana companies should be the ones to fund that effort. He's right.

I'm not a pot smoker, and don't believe in the magical qualities some people seem to be assigning it-- in fact, I think it is a public health problem, like tobacco and alcohol (though probably of a lesser quantum). I do think it should be legal for recreational use. And I think it is especially ridiculous that people are still serving long sentences for marijuana in states where it is now legal.

It is the second time I have been to California to see Weldon.

The first time was when I was negotiating his release from prison in 2016. I flew out and rented a car to drive up to the facility. It was deep in the Central Valley, in the middle of almond fields as far as I could see. It was dry and precisely cultivated; a different world than I was used to.

Then I went into the prison, which was like all the others: concrete and steel. Weldon was doing 55 years for selling small amounts of marijuana while possessing a gun, and we had to get him out while the chance was there. Some things that should make me nervous don't. This did. And it worked.

Weldon is a remarkable, focused person in freedom. He works in the North Dakota oil fields, which is not an easy job. He has started this organization, to do good work, and that is not easy, either.

And I believe in what he is trying to do now. It saddens me that instead of having discussions about things like this, our attention necessarily has to be on the chaos that President Trump creates. I told Politifact something this week: that to this administration, politics IS the law.