TACOMA, Wash. — Vanna Sing was arrested for something the state makes hundreds of millions of dollars doing: growing and selling marijuana.
“They found the marijuana plants in the garage and I went to jail,” Sing, of Tacoma, said of her 2007 arrest.
There was a shooting at her Pierce County home in 2007 and one of the guests, Chanara Yath -- a man Sing didn’t know -- died.
After police discovered pot plants in Sing’s garage, she was charged with unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance.
The charge was later dismissed, following a year of probation and community service, but for years the charge would appear on background checks when Sing applied for jobs.
“Sometimes the employer doesn't even take the time to ask you. They see it and then they just put your application to the side,” said Sing, “Then you don't get no phone call, no follow up.”
A proposed law would give $125 million in pot tax revenue to nonprofits who help people with past marijuana-related arrests and convictions.
Gov. Jay Inslee backs the proposal to create a Community Reinvestment Act. It's sponsored by several legislators, including Rep. Melanie Morgan.
“We're addressing the mistakes of the past, and investing in people who want to have a better life and in communities that have been held back far too long,” Morgan, D-Pierce County, told fellow representatives during a committee hearing in January.
Morgan said the funds would be used in four areas: economic development, civil and criminal legal assistance, community-based violence intervention and prevention, and re-entry services for those with past pot-related convictions.
”It's coming from righting the wrongs that were perpetuated against black and brown people with the ‘War on Drugs,’” said Morgan.
Sing, a refugee from Cambodia, said members of her community need help from the government, especially those who paid their debt after breaking a law that has since been changed.
She started a nonprofit, Tacoma Healing Awareness Community, the kind of organization that could benefit from state funding.
Sing said it would help people start their lives over.
”They just stay in the lifestyle that they're in, not knowing that things could be better for them,” said Sing.