Denver Mayor to Erase Low-Level Marijuana Convictions
Denver's Mayor, Michael Hancock has announced a plan to wipe out low-level marijuana convictions that happened before recreational marijuana was legalized.
The Mayor's office said over 10,000 convictions could be overturned from 2001-2013 and was quoted as saying:
“For too long, the lives of low-income residents and those living in our communities of color have been negatively affected by low-level marijuana convictions,” Hancock says in a statement. “This is an injustice that needs to be corrected, and we are going to provide a pathway to move on from an era of marijuana prohibition that has impacted the lives of thousands of people.”
This comes after months of working with various agencies in Denver including the District Attorney's office, city courts, and the Office of Marijuana Policy to come up with a way to expunge those records.
Hancock leads several of the nation's mayors in calling for federal marijuana policy updates.
In 2017, the Colorado General Assembly voted to seal the records of those convicted of misdemeanor marijuana use or possession to be sealed but not erased if it is not currently a crime.
This order will erase those arrests completely.