They flooded into the city at once.
Medical marijuana was on the ballot twice before the people voted overwhelmingly to approve medical marijuana in the state. It only took 3 years before recreational marijuana was on the ballot too. The people spoke in great numbers and came out to vote and the recreational marijuana bill was passed with 78% of the voters saying yes. After the law was passed, a lot of things changed. There was a clause in the law stating that all criminals that were in prison or jail for possession were going to be released from jail once the law passed. There were a lot of criminals doing time for minor drug charges. People were getting 6 months or a year in jail just for possessing an eighth of marijuana. An ounce was considered trafficking and carried a minimum 5-year sentence. After you could buy an ounce of marijuana from the dispensary legally and carry it on your person, it was certainly hard to keep all of those people in jail. A lot of the criminals from the state jail were released at the same time. They flooded into the city at once. We have a dozen or more released convicts staying in the hotel where I work. They all have jobs, but they have to live in the hotel because they can’t get an apartment due to their criminal record. I think the record should be expunged now that the crime is no longer on the books. Unfortunately, that is not the way that the law was written in this state.