“It is clear that many counties have made no serious effort to comply with the requirements of the Missouri Constitution,” Missouri NORML Coordinator Dan Viets said. “It should not be necessary to seek a court order in order to force our courts to comply with the Missouri Constitution, but if that is what is required, we may pursue that option.”
Justices reversed a lower court decision and concluded that certain “sale-related marijuana offenses are eligible for expungement” under the state’s 2020 voter-initiated legalization law.
The Act provides for the automatic review and expungement of any convictions or citations specific to marijuana-related offenses that have subsequently been decriminalized or legalized in the District of Columbia. It requires all cannabis-specific expungements to be processed by the courts by January 1, 2025.
Those previously convicted of possessing one ounce or less of cannabis are eligible for record sealing. It is estimated that some 800 Alaskans will receive relief under the order, which takes effect May 1, 2023.
“Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that public officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
“At a time when most Americans want to end marijuana prohibition and nearly a majority of people now reside states where cannabis is legal, it makes no sense to continue punishing adults and robbing them of the opportunity to fulfill their potential for behavior that in many cases is no longer a crime.”
“If no substantial countervailing concern is raised, judges must grant the petition for expungement,” justices on the Supreme Court concluded.
“Adults should no longer be stigmatized and disenfranchised because of convictions for marijuana-related activities that are no longer defined as crimes under the law.”