US Lawmakers File Bipartisan Bill To Expunge Marijuana Convictions
A bipartisan pair of lawmakers this week filed a bill to expunge federal convictions for low-level marijuana crimes.
The legislation, dubbed the Marijuana Misdemeanor Expungement Act, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Louisiana Democratic Rep. Troy A. Carter, Sr. and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a Republican from North Dakota.
The bill would create a mechanism to expunge convictions for minor violations of federal marijuana laws and provide a process to clear non-felony cannabis offenses currently in the federal judicial system. If passed, the measure “would deliver justice for countless Americans whose lives have been disrupted and deprived because of a misdemeanor marijuana offense,” according to the sponsors of the legislation.
“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. This bipartisan bill will restore justice to millions of Americans who have suffered excessive secondary consequences associated with marijuana-related misdemeanors,” Carter said in a July 2 statement from his office. “These misdemeanors, even without a conviction, can restrict the ability to access educational aid, housing assistance, occupational licensing, and even foster parenting. Delivering justice for people who have been impacted by marijuana-related misdemeanors is a vital part of comprehensive cannabis reform.”
Federal Marijuana Reforms Continue
Successful passage of the bill would continue efforts to reform federal marijuana policy. In October 2022, President Joseph Biden issued an executive order that pardoned thousands of past federal marijuana possession convictions. In December 2023, he expanded the order to encompass thousands more convictions for minor violations under federal and Washington, D.C. marijuana laws. The pardons did not erase federal records of the convictions, however, leading Armstrong and Carter to reintroduce the expungement bill, which mirrors a bill from two years ago that did not advance, according to a report from Marijuana Moment.
“Records matter and carrying a low-level non-criminal petty offense on a record could heavily impact a person’s way of life from sustaining employment to applying to new opportunities,” said Armstrong. “The Marijuana Misdemeanor Expungement Act gives a second chance to non-violent petty marijuana offenders after the sentence is complete and removes barriers to reentry while upholding the rule of law and supporting a more equitable society.”
The Biden administration is also in the process of reclassifying marijuana under federal drug laws. In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally recommended that cannabis be rescheduled under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The recommendation was based on a review of the science behind the medicinal use of cannabis that supported the change from Schedule I of the CSA to Schedule III, a less strict classification that includes drugs such as Tylenol with codeine and testosterone. In April, news broke that the Drug Enforcement Administration had agreed to the change.
24 States Have Legalized Recreational Marijuana
The federal reforms follow nearly three decades of progress in easing restrictions on marijuana at the state level. Two dozen states have legalized recreational marijuana, while 38 states have adopted policies allowing for the medicinal use of cannabis.
“With cannabis programs established in 38 states, it is beyond unjust that individuals with minor marijuana charges continue to be punished for these previous offenses for what is now legal activity in a majority of the country,” said Saphira Galoob, executive director of the National Cannabis Roundtable. “Cannabis-related criminal justice reform efforts must remain at the forefront of federal reform efforts to begin to address the harms caused by decades of the misguided War on Drugs.”
The new expungement bill would require the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to implement a process to expedite the “review, expungement, sealing, sequester and redaction” of criminal records for federal misdemeanor marijuana convictions. The chief justice would be given one year after the bill goes into effect to create a process for the expungements, while each federal judicial district would have up to two years to “conduct a comprehensive review and issue an order expunging, sealing, and sequestering” under the rules established by the chief justice. The measure would apply to cases of misdemeanor marijuana possession and non-commercial distribution, as well as “any other federal misdemeanor, petty offense, infraction, or civil penalty involving marijuana, including marijuana-related drug paraphernalia,” according to the text of the bill.
“While thousands of individuals with federal simple marijuana possession charges were pardoned by President Biden in 2022, the unfortunate reality is that those records still follow them even after that historic act of clemency. But Congress has the authority to provide the expungements necessary to wipe the slate clean and provide a true second chance,” said Weldon Angelos, president of the Weldon Project, a group working to secure the release of all cannabis prisoners. “Our federal marijuana and criminal justice policies must be reformed to recognize the fact that cannabis is now legal in 38 states as we continue to move towards ending prohibition.
