San Francisco to Expunge Cannabis Convictions

Officials from the city of San Francisco just announced that they will toss out thousands of cannabis convictions, now that cannabis is legal for adults in the state.

According to The Washington Post, the erased convictions will go back decades, even though cannabis was recently legalized. District Attorney George Gascón announced officially that his office will be dismissing about 3,000 misdemeanor cases, and it will also review 5,000 felony cases to see if they can be dismissed. The cases are being wiped out in large numbers because, according to Gascón, doing it one at a time would be costly. “A misdemeanor or felony conviction can have significant implications for employment, housing, and other benefits,” he told The Washington Post.

This is partially due to the fact that 23 petitions have gone around in light of legalization, asking that prior cannabis-related cases be dismissed. Around 5,000 people have already applied for a change to their records, and it is estimated that as many as 10,000 people could be eligible to have their records changed.

According to the New York Post, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he would especially like to help with the convictions targeting “primarily people of color, whose lives were long ago derailed by a costly, broken and racially discriminatory system.”

With this move, the San Francisco area is following in the footsteps of places like Portland, Connecticut, Missouri and several other areas that are already on track to making prior convictions a thing of the past. If this trend continues, many who have had their lives destroyed because of unfair cannabis laws will soon begin to see a positive change.