California is on the verge of legalizing marijuana, if this happens, what will happen to all the people who are currently in the California prison system, for marijuana related charges, more specifically possession of over an ounce?
Yes, if they went to prison, they will have to serve out whatever legal sentence they received. As a note the number of people in prison in CA for possession of marijuana is very minimal, and dollars to donuts they pled to the possession of more than an ounce to avoid much more serious offenses to include sales. I have yet to ever see in my 19 years on the job
anyone sent to CA state prison for possession of more than an ounce ... ever. If they have, I suspect it is because they had a multitude of other felonies and that was the plea deal, or, it was the best chance to get a bad guy with a serious record off the street.
Per the CDCR in 2008 some 2% of admissions to CDCR were for marijuana offenses: 1.4% for possession for sale, 0.5% for sales, and 0.1% for other marijuana offenses (this might be where those more than ounce possession cases might be hidden).