{"id":52513,"date":"2022-01-25T07:20:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T15:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/01\/25\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-measures-take-differing-approaches-to-expungement\/"},"modified":"2022-01-25T13:45:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T21:45:45","slug":"missouri-marijuana-legalization-measures-take-differing-approaches-to-expungement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/01\/25\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-measures-take-differing-approaches-to-expungement\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Marijuana Legalization Measures Take Differing Approaches to Expungement"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Legal experts worry the cannabis expungement proposals currently being considered might cause more harm than good.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

The push to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri is coming from multiple directions, with a handful of proposed initiative petitions and at least one bill, and potentially more, backed by Republican lawmakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each hopes to place the issue on the 2022 ballot for voter approval.<\/p>\n

And each proposal also includes a provision that, while often overlooked in the marijuana debate, is considered a transformative piece of the legalization puzzle\u2014the expungement of nonviolent marijuana offenses from criminal records.<\/p>\n

The proposals differ on how they handle expungement.<\/p>\n

Some propose an \u201cautomatic\u201d system that would have the courts identify the old offenses and seal them on people\u2019s records. Others would require people to submit a petition and pay a fee.<\/p>\n

How to go about expungement remains up for debate. But the necessity of its inclusion appears a settled matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery conversation should start with criminal expungement and how the war on drugs has been part of the extension of systemic racism,\u201d said Brennan England, state director of Minorities for Medical Marijuana, an advocacy group for minority businesses.<\/p>\n

However, legal experts who work directly with people in law clinics worry that the expungement proposals that are currently being considered in both the initiative petitions and legislation might cause more harm than good. Especially since each seeks to amend the Missouri Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is we put something in the Constitution of the State of Missouri that has this level of minutiae, some of which may not be possible,\u201d said Ellen Suni, dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law and director the law school\u2019s expungement clinic.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Legal Missouri\u00a0<\/a>ballot initiative, which has the financial backing from many of the state\u2019s largest medical marijuana license holders, proposes a process for Missourians with nonviolent marijuana-related offenses to automatically expunge their criminal records. It has the backing of advocacy groups such as the NAACP and Empower Missouri, who see this as an opportunity to lay seeds for expungement reform beyond marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very small stepping stone on a path to a much larger piece of legislation,\u201d said Mallory Rusch, executive director of Empower Missouri.<\/p>\n

Rusch, along with many others throughout the state, regards Suni and her UMKC team as leaders in the conversation for expungement reform. Suni believes the process should be as accessible as possible for people who have paid their dues to the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

However, the Legal Missouri\u00a0proposal\u00a0would etch timelines and specific expungement process details into the constitution that might not necessarily take into account the complexity of Missouri\u2019s existing law and lack of digitized criminal records, Suni told the Independent. If the expungement program fails, then it would not only require a constitutional change but it \u201ccould be problematic down the road\u201d for other attempts at automatic expungement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the next time somebody mentions automated expungement, it\u2019s \u2018been there, done that. It doesn\u2019t work,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Legalization proposals on the table<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There are three initiative petitions hoping to collect enough signatures<\/a> to get on the November ballot and legalize recreational use of marijuana<\/a>: Legal Missouri,\u00a0Fair Access Missouri<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cannabis Patient Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Republican Rep.\u00a0Shamed Dogan<\/a> (R) has filed legislation to also put the issue to voters<\/a>, and at least one other Republican is working on filing a similar measure.<\/p>\n

Legal Missouri would set up a timeline for when courts have to expunge records depending on the class of offenses, where misdemeanor offenses would be adjudicated first. The courts would have one year to order the expungements of people who are not in jail or on parole or probation.<\/p>\n

The fees and tax revenues from the marijuana program would go towards paying for expungements, said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal MO.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not an unfunded mandate, which is something that I think was a big concern,\u201d Payne said. \u201cIt is a concern that I would see on some of these other proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, people currently in jail for possession of marijuana would have to petition for their release, and those who are incarcerated for possessing more than three pounds would have to serve out their entire sentence.<\/p>\n

Fair Access is the only proposal where people would have to file a petition for the charges to be dropped, which would also come with a $100 fee. Eric McSwain, campaign manager for Fair Access, said during a\u00a0virtual town hall and debate<\/a> on January 20 that the petition allows people to file \u201cwhen they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAutomatic expungements are notable for taking a long time to implement,\u201d McSwain said. \u201cAnd in the case of Legal Missouri 2022, they\u2019re actually going to have to wait for tax revenues to start to be generated in order for those automatic expungements to begin to take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measures by the Cannabis Patient Network and Dogan both state that within 60 days of passage, Missouri\u2019s courts must order the immediate expungement of civil and criminal records pertaining to all nonviolent, marijuana-only offenses.<\/p>\n

They also state that anyone incarcerated for nonviolent, marijuana-only offenses shall be immediately released, and those on parole or probation shall be released from that supervision.<\/p>\n

A \u2018meaningful\u2019 process<\/strong><\/h4>\n

No matter which proposal makes it through, the biggest question is: Will it be efficient?<\/p>\n

\u201cComing up with ways to make expungement meaningful to actually achieve the legislative objectives that were put forward when expungement laws were passed is really kind of the key step,\u201d said\u00a0Staci Pratt, director of public services at UMKC School of Law.<\/p>\n

In 2019,\u00a0an estimated 1.5 million Missourians had criminal records. Yet that year, only 125 people were able to expunge their criminal records in Missouri.<\/p>\n

Currently in Missouri, expungement is not easy, Pratt said. Most people can\u2019t do it without paying several thousand dollars for a lawyer, she said, because of all the information that\u2019s required\u2014and often difficult to locate. Marijuana offenses are often municipal infractions, and criminal records in some municipalities aren\u2019t digitized.<\/p>\n

In February, Pratt and Suni are convening people impacted by the current expungement law, prosecutors, attorneys and elected officials together to figure out how to fix the challenges in the current law.<\/p>\n

St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell and Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker both told The Independent that they would welcome comprehensive legislative change on expungement for marijuana offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny act that would mandate the expungement of certain records to remove the individual cost and burden from petitioners would be a welcome change,\u201d Bell said. \u201cIt\u2019s currently $250 to petition to have a record expunged, and it\u2019s not always even successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker also said people should not have to pay for expungement if the law is changed.<\/p>\n

Brennan England moderated the January 20 town hall, and he pushed back on Legal Missouri\u2019s requirement that people serve their entire sentence if they have convictions involving possession of more than three pounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already know that especially minorities are subjected to extensive, aggressive over sentencing,\u201d England said. \u201cSo how can you guarantee that those that have actually been targeted the most by the War on Drugs are going to have a chance to get out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Payne responded that in his research, the Legal Missouri measure would be the \u201cbroadest expungement provision in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know of any state that has gone as far as we\u2019re going here,\u201d Payne said. \u201cIn most states, any felony is off the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smaller proposals<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Outside of legalization, legislators are also proposing smaller changes to the expungement law. Rep. Ron Hicks (R) has filed a bill to drop nonviolent marijuana charges if people get a medical marijuana card.<\/p>\n

Sen. Barbara Washington (D) has proposed dropping offenses for marijuana possession of 35 grams or less.<\/p>\n

Bell said his administration doesn\u2019t prosecute marijuana possession cases of 100 grams or less, \u201cwhich is a radical change from previous administrations.\u201d If it\u2019s more than 100 grams, he said, there has to be a clear intent to sell before they issue charges.<\/p>\n

England said the voters and legislators should be looking at all options for expungement, even outside of any recreational-use measures.<\/p>\n

From his viewpoint, England believes the expungement proposals need much more focus and they need to be the priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpungement starts with getting people out of jail,\u201d England said. \u201cIt continues with repairing their lives, and then it ends with giving them direct opportunities to rebuild their lives directly in the [marijuana] industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

New York Doctors Can Now Recommend Medical Marijuana To Patients For Any Condition They See Fit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Missouri Marijuana Legalization Measures Take Differing Approaches to Expungement<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Legal experts worry the cannabis expungement proposals currently being considered might cause more harm than good. By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent The push to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri is coming from multiple directions, with a handful of proposed initiative petitions and at least one bill, and potentially more,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52514,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52513\/revisions\/52514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}