Colorado court rules some pot convictions could be overruled

Hundreds of people who were dealt jail time for possessing small amounts of marijuana in Colorado may be eligible to have their convictions reversed, The Associated Press reported.

The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that people whose cases were under appeal when Amendment 64 took effect in December 2012 may have their convictions thrown out under the law that legalized recreational marijuana.

“This is a huge victory,” said Brian Vicente, one of the amendment’s authors. According to Vicente, Colorado has prosecuted as many as 9,000 cases a year for marijuana possession. A number of the appeals were still in the courts after the drug was decriminalized.

Amendment 64 in Colorado decriminalized possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, but commercial sale of the drug didn’t commence until the beginning of this year.