Missouri's Automatic Expungement Wipes Outs Thousands Of Cannabis Offenses, Lawyers & TerrAscend Do Same In NJ

More than 7,500 Missourians have had their marijuana cases expunged from all public records since Amendment 3 became effective on December 8.

Missouri voters legalized adult-use cannabis in November's midterms by approving Amendment 3 and making Missouri the first state in the union where voters initiated the automatic expungement of prior marijuana convictions.

Missouri circuit courts “have granted 6,121 expungements for misdemeanors related to nonviolent cannabis offenses that did not involve selling to minors or driving under the influence of cannabis. More than 1,200 felony convictions have also been expunged," reported River Front Times.

Missouri NORML coordinator Dan Viets said the state's expungement process is moving faster than he expected. "This is very positively impacting thousands of lives. Ultimately, we expect more than 100,000 expungements will be automatically granted in Missouri marijuana cases," he said last month.

By March 8, sentencing courts must complete misdemeanor adjudication of people currently in prison or jail. For those people who are no longer under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, circuit courts have until June 8 to order the expungement of all their misdemeanor marijuana offenses.

In related news, TerrAscend Corp. TER TRSSF recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with The Hoffman Centers, P.C., a New Jersey law firm, to provide free cannabis-related expungement services, which will be sponsored by The Apothecarium.

The THCSponge Expungement Program aims to assist individuals with prior cannabis-related convictions or who are currently serving time for offenses that are now legal at the state level, per a press release.

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