Social & Community Action

While the community holds a social responsibility to support and encourage expungement action, this is an issue that ultimately must be addressed beyond the efforts of individual dispensaries and non-profit organizations.

The War on Drugs, created under federal law, has impacted the lives of countless people – over 200,000 individuals in the state of Arizona alone hold expunge-able cannabis offenses. Funding was widely distributed to law enforcement to support arrests, detention and incarceration for those found in violation of federal cannabis laws. Now, in states like Arizona where cannabis has been legalized, the responsibility to take widespread action on record expungement must come from state and county governments with the same vigor, attention and funding that was given to criminalization campaigns.

New York has instituted an automatic expungement system with no filing, motions or any efforts on the part of the individual for many cannabis charges. A similar system is crucial in Arizona but this action will need to come from the state level. While cannabis has become a profitable business for many people, lingering cannabis charges continue to hold Arizonans back from employment, housing and other opportunities to move on with their lives. 

Thank you to David Abbott at The Tucson Weekly for highlighting The Prime Leaf and our community efforts to support expungement action. Check out his article and The Tucson Weekly for more Tucson Cannabis news! 

Tucson Expungement Clinics

In the absence of legislative state action, advocacy groups like Arizona NORML are holding free expungement clinics around the state. However, as of Sept 30th, only 16 records have been expunged. Privacy concerns, timing, and transportation access play a huge role in the ability of folks to attend an expungement clinic. An automatic expungement system would drastically change this.

For now, free expungement clinics around the state offer individuals with previous minor Arizona cannabis convictions an opportunity to consult with an attorney about expunging a cannabis charge from their record. Attorneys will assist individuals about what charges can be expunged and assist with filling out a petition for expungement.