Mandated as a priority by legalization proponents and the governor’s office, the state is just beginning to address the judicial carnage created by the ill-fated “War on Drugs.”
For most cannabis reform advocates, the main thrust of their collective efforts has centered on legalizing marijuana possession and sales for adults over 21. However, from the beginning of the legalization movement, criminal justice reform has also been a foundational tenet of ending the prohibition of weed in America.
From the outset, when Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis for adults in 2012, several progressive-minded lawmakers and criminal rights activists sought to include provisions to right the wrongs of the past, particularly concerning low-level cannabis convictions.
One of the ways several states have chosen to address the overwhelming glut of individuals marked with the Scarlet Letter of “C” for convicted of a cannabis crime is to expunge their records from the criminal justice system.
While some states have given more lip service than actual tangible action to eradicating these now-harmless-looking transgressions, others, like the state of Minnesota, have taken the job of erasing past crimes extremely seriously.
According to multiple media outlets, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety issued a news release this week revealing that all criminal history records qualifying for expungement under the state’s Adult-Use Cannabis Act are no longer visible to the public on the Minnesota Criminal History System (CHS).
Only nine months after passing the historic legalization measure and three months ahead of schedule, the state’s Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has expunged 57,780 records.
“We are pleased to be able to deliver on this legislative priority,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said. “Minnesotans will see changes to their records immediately and as additional expungements are made in the months and years ahead.”
"We are pleased to be able to deliver on this legislative priority. Minnesotans will see changes to their records immediately and as additional expungements are made in the months and years ahead."
- BCA Superintendent Drew Evans
Since the legalization measure took effect, the BCA has worked tirelessly to identify all state records that qualify for automatic expungement. As part of that process, the BCA devised and implemented coding changes that allowed qualifying records to be sealed from the public.
Moving forward, state officials will notify local law enforcement agencies, enabling them to delete their records while felony-level convictions remain under review. The statute does allow for the Cannabis Expungements Boards to review most cannabis felonies. However, the BCA expects that phase to take years to complete, as officials must review those cases one at a time.
“The Cannabis Expungement Board is tasked with the thoughtful and careful review of cannabis-related felonies, and we are quickly moving forward to build a team to accomplish the work. It is very encouraging to see that misdemeanor cannabis criminal records are moving toward expungement now. These actions together will have a lasting and significant equity impact on communities throughout the state of Minnesota,” Cannabis Expungements Board Executive Director James Rowader said.
"The Cannabis Expungement Board is tasked with the thoughtful and careful review of cannabis-related felonies, and we are quickly moving forward to build a team to accomplish the work. It is very encouraging to see that misdemeanor cannabis criminal records are moving toward expungement now. These actions together will have a lasting and significant equity impact on communities throughout the state of Minnesota."
- Cannabis Expungements Board Executive Director James Rowader
In addition to the provisions for expungement in the Adult-Use Cannabis Act, another separate law passed in 2023, the Clean Slate Act, will seal more cases. According to the details of the legislation, records that currently require a court order for expungement will now automatically qualify for removal from the system. Slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, the BCA expects it will be able to implement automatic expungements related to the law before the effective date.
The Minnesota law serves as a stellar example of how cannabis criminal justice reform should look for the thousands of individuals languishing under the economic and societal yoke of a past criminal conviction over simple marijuana possession.
With the White House also implementing a similar program for past federal convictions last year, there is a concerted national effort to erase the stain of President Nixon’s ill-advised and disastrous “War on Drugs.” This latest number of expungements in Minnesota should have a lasting and positive effect, particularly in communities of color ravaged by over-policing and disproportionate drug-related convictions.
