Expungement

President Biden received a letter this week signed by more than 150 celebrity entertainers, politicians, law enforcement officials, and advocates requesting clemency for federal cannabis offenders.

Since July, New Jersey courts have expunged at least 362,000 low-level cannabis-related criminal records and there are an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 similar cases that could be automatically expunged under the state’s legalization law.

Medical cannabis dispensaries in Minnesota are partnering with volunteer attorneys from St. Paul’s Mitchell Hamline School of Law to host expungement clinics and help people clear their records of nonviolent cannabis charges.

A proposal in Michigan would eliminate the state’s “moral character” clause in its adult-use cannabis law, which can block industry participation based on “integrity, moral character, and reputation” or if the applicant has prior cannabis offenses.

Advocates in Missouri have filed a ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for adults in the state. They must now collect 175,000 signatures to secure the issue on next year’s midterm ballots.

The New Orleans City Council approved language to retroactively and proactively pardon all low-level cannabis cases in the city, effectively nixing some 10,000 cannabis convictions and decriminalizing cannabis moving forward.

Democratic senators unveiled the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act today, which seeks to federally legalize cannabis and contains social justice elements aimed at undoing the harms of prohibition.

The dismissal of the more than 6,000 cases comes two months after lawmakers legalized cannabis for adult use in New York.

Arizona’s Supreme Court launched a new website to help people determine whether they are eligible to have their cannabis-related criminal records cleared.

Edmund DeVeaux is a New Jersey-based cannabis industry lobbyist and President of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association.

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said last week the city is ready to legalize adult-use cannabis sales as soon as the Congressional rider blocking the reforms is gone.

Cannabis use and possession are officially legal in New York after Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the state’s legalization bill into law on Wednesday.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) called lawmakers back to the capital for a special legislative session specifically to reach a cannabis legalization deal.

A California Superior Court judge in San Diego County reduced some 26,000 felony cannabis charges to misdemeanors and fully dismissed another 1,000 misdemeanor charges.

A group of Oregon activists, business owners, and lawmakers have put forward the Oregon Cannabis Social Equity Act, which aims to use cannabis tax dollars to help repair damage done by the racist drug war.

The Illinois State Police and Gov. J.B. Pritzker together cleared over 500,000 cannabis-related criminal records on New Year’s Eve.

Will County in Illinois this week approved the expungement of 1,653 cannabis possession misdemeanors. There are likely about 7,000 similar cases remaining in the state.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has commuted the sentence of Michael Thompson, who was sentenced to 60 years in prison after selling cannabis to an undercover police officer in 1996.

Florida State Sen. Randolph Bracey announced this week he will introduce a bill next year aimed at expunging low-level cannabis convictions in the state.

In yet another sign of growing public approval for cannabis reforms, a recent survey shows that a 70% supermajority of Americans supports the expungement of cannabis convictions.

The New Leaf Illinois initiative has launched. The effort aims to help people who were arrested for cannabis crimes get their records expunged.

A North Carolina task force has recommended the state decriminalize small amounts of cannabis and expunge cannabis arrest records.

With legalization the big winner in Tuesday night’s election, what other cannabis justice measures prevailed?

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a piece of legislation creating an automatic process for the expungement of criminal activity that would now be legal under the state’s 2018 legalization initiative.