Actually, you'd be keeping people in prison who you know have a disregard for the law, and decide for themselves what they think is okay. They are criminals, they broke the law at the time, and as such, are people that deserve to spend time in prison.
Of course, that's a very broad way to think of it. I'm sure for this particular topic there are lots of cases of outright discrimination which means people are serving sentences for marijuana-related laws that just aren't helpful to society at all (probably detrimental).
So, you may be right regarding this particular law, however, I think it is a very dangerous precedent to simply pardon anyone who committed a crime, for which that act is now legal.
If someone believes something that's currently illegal should be made legal, there are non-anarchist ways to deal with it than simply disregarding authority and committing a crime.
You can apply the same logic toward civil disobedience and people ignoring unjust laws during the civil right movement era or ghandi's era.
I think many would agree that kind of 'law breaking' should be cleared, and they apply the same logic to non-violent drug offences.
There is also a good segment who were forced into plea bargains due to the structure of the US legal system, the pattern of racism in arrests, convictions, evidence planting and so on. We know a chunk of those people are in jail for bullshit reasons, and thus the push towards releasing these people and removing the records.
What is this dangerous precedent? I struggle to think of a reasonable hypothetical scenario where it is just to continue punishing someone for something which isn't a crime. On the other hand, there are actual thousands of people locked in confined spaces for acts that society no longer believes merits locking people in confined spaces.
But, you say, they are the kind of people who disregard the law so we should keep them there anyway. They are in prison because of a specific crime, not their general audacity to defy the state. Imprisoning someone because of an error and continuing to do so after it has been realized serves no societal purpose and is a cruel and excessive use of force.
Of course, that's a very broad way to think of it. I'm sure for this particular topic there are lots of cases of outright discrimination which means people are serving sentences for marijuana-related laws that just aren't helpful to society at all (probably detrimental).
So, you may be right regarding this particular law, however, I think it is a very dangerous precedent to simply pardon anyone who committed a crime, for which that act is now legal.
If someone believes something that's currently illegal should be made legal, there are non-anarchist ways to deal with it than simply disregarding authority and committing a crime.