State government officials have provided nearly 2 million pardons and expungements to people with low-level marijuana convictions over recent years, according to a new analysis from NORML.
There’s been renewed national interest in cannabis clemency since President Joe Biden issued a mass marijuana pardon in October, forgiving several thousands Americans who’ve committed federal possession offenses and encouraging governors to follow the administration’s lead.
But while the presidential action has been viewed by advocates as a welcome step in the right direction, it’s severely limited in scope, due in large part to the fact that vast majority of marijuana cases take place at the state level, falling outside of the president’s jurisdiction.
Some governors have taken clemency action in the weeks since Biden’s mass pardon, but many other state and local officials had moved to provide similar relief even before the president stepped up.
A new report published by NORML on Wednesday examines publicly available data from across the country, showing how officials have provided about 100,000 pardons and 1.7 million expungements since 2018.
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no
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