In December, the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice recommended that cannabis possession should be a civil — not a criminal — offense. Last week, legislators put forward a bill that would do just that.

This is one of those stories that churns my stomach. In early September, officials in Shawnee County, Kansas, announced that due to budget constraints, they would stop prosecuting misdemeanor domestic violence cases. This resulted in many domestic violence cases being dismissed without prosecution throughout the county. Also, a flood of such cases is being sent to the Topeka legal system instead. Topeka is in just as dire economic straits as the county in which it resides. After determining that…