100,000 marijuana convictions expunged in Missouri, year after recreational use legalized
Missouri expunged nearly 100,000 marijuana convictions from government records, a year after legalizing recreational use, KMBC reported.
Last year, a constitutional amendment promised to expunge non-violent misdemeanors by June 8 and felonies by December 8. When a record is expunged it's either sealed or destroyed. The individual charged is cleared of those charges.
“If they have that scarlet letter or that mark on their record, it puts them out of opportunities that they can get for safer housing, for better employment, for education opportunities,” Justice Gatson, leader of the Kansas City advocacy group Reale Justice Network told Missouri Independent, when the law passed last December.
More: Ohio legalizes marijuana, joining nearly half the US: See the states where weed is legal
The responsibility to wipe those records fell on to county Circuit Clerks across the state but in May, several told FOX4 they couldn't make that deadline. Employees in each county would have to go through every case file to see if there are records that need to be expunged.
“We cannot meet that deadline, will not meet that deadline, it is not physically possible to meet that deadline,” Greene County Circuit Clerk Bryan Feemster told FOX4. “We wish that we could.”
While the courts appears to still be behind on expunging those records, advocates told KMBC, they're fine as long as they continue to make "good faith" efforts to wipe out those convictions.
“We have always said that as long as the courts, the circuit clerks in particular, are making a good faith effort to comply with the law, to get those cases expunged, that we'll be satisfied. They have not technically met the deadline. But on the other hand, we're dealing with a century of marijuana prohibition in Missouri. So, there are hundreds of thousands of cases,” Dan Viets, who wrote parts of the constitutional amendment told KMBC.
Viets said he anticipates expunging all the records could take years.
Which states have legal recreational marijuana?
Here are the states where it is currently legal, or will soon become legal, to purchase marijuana for recreational use. Every state on this list had authorized the use for medicinal purposes prior to full legalization.
Ohio: Legalized in 2023
Minnesota: Legalized in 2023
Delaware: Legalized in 2023
Rhode Island: Legalized in 2022
Maryland: Legalized in 2022
Missouri: Legalized in 2022
Connecticut: Legalized in 2021
New Mexico: Legalized in 2021
New York: Legalized in 2021
Virginia: Legalized in 2021
Arizona: Legalized in 2020
Montana: Legalized in 2020
New Jersey: Legalized in 2020
Vermont: Legalized in 2020
Illinois: Legalized in 2019
Michigan: Legalized in 2018
California: Legalized in 2016
Maine: Legalized in 2016
Massachusetts: Legalized in 2016
Nevada: Legalized in 2016
District of Columbia: Legalized in 2014
Alaska: Legalized 2014
Oregon: Legalized in 2014
Colorado: Legalized in 2012
Washington: Legalized in 2012
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missouri expunges 100,000 marijuana convictions after legalizing pot
