“Thousands of citizens unduly carry the undue burden and stigmatization of a past conviction for behavior that is no longer considered to be a crime. Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that officials move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
HB 4982 explicitly permits those convicted of one or more misdemeanor marijuana offenses to file a petition with the court to have their criminal record set aside.
John Lennon obviously thought something good might result from his focusing national attention on this unjust prison sentence for a minor marijuana offense, but I suspect he was as pleasantly shocked as the rest of us when, shortly following the event, the Michigan Supreme Court took action to free John Sinclair.
Licensed storefronts are now eligible to engage in retail cannabis sales to adults. The first adult-use sales began on Sunday, December 1.
Select retailers will begin engaging in adult-use marijuana sales next month, according to an advisory issued by the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency.
State regulators have begun accepting applications from those wishing to open licensed retail cannabis facilities. Regulators estimate that the first state-licensed retailers will be operational by March 2020.
The warrantless search of a passenger’s personal property during a traffic stop is unconstitutional, according to a ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Due to major opposition from a broad coalition of marijuana law reform advocates, Senate Majority Leader Meekhof’s effort to undermine Michigan’s Proposition 1, which was approved by voters last November, failed short in the Senate.