treating ex-offenders (that have served their sentences) as a "protected class" status, requiring a compelling interest/"strict scrutiny" analysis in cases of the denial of employment, housing, public accommodations, etc.

I wrote an article on this while in Law School. When I approached my advisor with my topic, he advised that I should pick a different topic if I ever intended to run for any public office, serve as a judge/magistrate/Justice of the Peace, or intended to do anything but defense work.

What you suggest.

As a cynical middle aged man however, I doubt we'd get to a point where cannabis users would ever be actively protected. Sealing the criminal records seems at least achievable.

Peace

Most have a box you have to check stating that you have a criminal record. I am vaguely aware that some of my local political friends and politicians are trying to get that removed and give ex-felons some protections when it comes to housing and employment.

I know that you cannot qualify for Section 8 if you have a record. Stuff like that seems unfair. A person serves their term, they have paid their debt to society, right? So why do they have to pay for the rest of their lives?

Something from the article that I didn't know: Police like arresting low-level pot offenders because they are not actual criminals or people with serious mental health and addiction problems. So they get overtime based on how many NON-CRIMINALS they can arrest And then we pony up 30k per year per inmate to keep them locked up. That is flat out insane.

A guy I know, white, middle-aged, construction company owner who belongs to a country club (this is the south so 87% chance he is Republican) got called to jury duty. He was asked if he would convict in a Marijuana case. He laughed and said No, it was a complete waste of everyone's time and who cares anyway. So things have got to change soon if a guy like that sees what waste the system produces.