{"id":8552,"date":"2018-12-04T17:32:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3291392"},"modified":"2018-12-04T17:32:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:32:50","slug":"denver-will-help-expunge-marijuana-convictions-for-10000-plus-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-will-help-expunge-marijuana-convictions-for-10000-plus-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver will help expunge marijuana convictions for 10,000-plus people"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-will-help-expunge-marijuana-convictions-for-10000-plus-people\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/denver-will-help-expunge-marijuana-convictions-for-10000-plus-people.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Colorado may be the mecca of legal marijuana, but the state\u2019s old drug laws still loom large. More than 10,000 people in Denver alone were convicted of low-level cannabis crimes just between 2001 and 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Those offenses \u2014 such as possessing the drug or paraphernalia \u2014 would not be illegal today, but they still haunt many people\u2019s criminal records.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the city of Denver will help anyone convicted in municipal court in the past to clear those records. Mayor Michael Hancock has ordered a \u201ccitywide effort\u201d to vacate and expunge low-level marijuana convictions for residents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor 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,\u201d he said in a news release issued Tuesday morning. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>People already can try to expunge records on their own, but the city now will proactively help them, said Theresa Marchetta, Hancock\u2019s spokeswoman. The city\u2019s effort won\u2019t help those convicted in state court.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Boulder County District Attorney\u2019s Office announced that it would<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailycamera.com\/news\/boulder\/ci_32302890\/boulder-county-da-looking-dismiss-thousands-past-marijuana\"> vacate and seal<\/a> thousands of marijuana possession convictions. Denver officials haven\u2019t said whether they will take a single action to clear thousands of cases, or whether they might help people clear their records individually.<\/p>\n<p>The announcements are part of a years-long evolution of Colorado\u2019s justice system, according to trial lawyer Colin McCallin. Until a few years ago, it was exceedingly difficult and costly to clear criminal charges \u2014 much less convictions \u2014 from a person\u2019s record, he said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=2017+state+law+colorado+marijuana+misdemeanors&amp;rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS820US820&amp;oq=2017+state+law+colorado+marijuana+misdemeanors&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.7127j0j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\">a new state law<\/a> allowed people to seal records of misdemeanor use and possession convictions, though they\u2019re still required to pay filing fees.<\/p>\n<p>Denver and other cities also have opened the door for people to clear some low-level convictions from their record. \u201cThere\u2019s already some mechanisms in place for a person with a low-level conviction to seal their conviction,\u201d said McCallin, who previously worked with the 18th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Hancock hasn\u2019t announced the\u00a0exact details of the new program, but McCallin says there are several ways it could go, \u201cdepending on how proactive the Denver city government would be on this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The city could simply provide help for people who want to use the existing process, which typically involves a $65 filing fee. Or the Denver City Attorney\u2019s Office could \u201ctake the proactive step of filing their own request to seal en masse all of those cases,\u201d he said. The mayor also could issue an executive order, McCallin added.<\/p>\n<p>But he cautioned that the effort could require the support of state agencies like the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and it could raise tough questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is going to be considered a low-level offense for marijuana? Does it matter how many offenses a person has?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is clear, he said: There\u2019s plenty of room for the city to help. \u201cI\u2019m sure there are a ton of people out there who have these convictions who weren\u2019t even aware that they can go to court and petition to get that expunged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coloradans voted to legalize marijuana in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Colorado may be the mecca of legal marijuana, but the state&#8217;s old drug laws still loom large. Now Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has ordered a &#8220;citywide effort&#8221; to vacate and expunge past municipal marijuana convictions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6812,6847,6813,6848,77,6814,6815,5667,7961,9,5019,441,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6817,6850,6818,6851,2655,6819,6820,5673,7962,5022,3015],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}