This made good sense for several reasons:

• Most marijuana convictions were for non-violent, low-level offenses.
• Minorities and the economically disadvantaged were greatly disproportionately impacted by marijuana laws.
• To right the injustice of people now making good money (it’s a multi-billion dollar industry in California) for the same activity that previously sent others to prison.

But despite this and a 2018 law passed with the intention of speeding up the process for tens of thousands of Californians still stuck grappling with felony and misdemeanor marijuana convictions on their record, our Riverside marijuana lawyers know that the process has been slow-going. This fact was confirmed by a recent Los Angeles Times investigation.

It’s worth noting that the process was never going to be fully automatic. But at this point, there are still an estimated 34,000 people in the state with marijuana crimes on their record that haven’t been processed for the clean slate they deserve. There were twice that many before last August, which is when the Times started raising questions about why it was taking so long (presumably lighting a fire under officials to prioritize the effort).

It appears the primary bottleneck in the process that involves 58 prosecutors’ offices and the state Department of Justice is the courts. Some counties have been working with a fair amount of diligence to clear records for people in their communities. In total, 117,000 cases have been processed in California. Others, however, have been incredibly slow. For example, in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, not a single case has been processed. Others, like Kern County, are only at 18 percent.

AB 1793 was supposed to help clear prior marijuana convictions en masse, allowing counties to bypass the need to take every case to court via individual petition. The goal was to deliver these rights to people without making them jump through a dozen hoops to obtain relief. But while most district attorneys complied with the deadline for submitting the estimated 192,000 eligible cases to the courts, the courts weren’t given a deadline to process them. That’s where most all of these cases are stuck – despite the fact that courts received nearly $17 million from the state to get the job done.

Officials with the courts pin the blame on COVID, staff shortages, case management systems that are outdated, and older records that necessitate manual reviews. But it’s not difficult to see delays as a continuing pattern of disparate justice for people of color. In San Berndardino County alone, some 5,400 cannabis convictions are pending. In San Bernardino, another 21,000.

A clean slate is more than simply a self-esteem issue. Criminal convictions for cannabis offenses – particularly at the felony level – can result in individuals being turned down for jobs, certain types of licensure, housing, higher education, and other opportunities. In at least a couple of cases, individuals were jailed and falsely accused of felonies because their marijuana convictions at the local or state level hadn’t been updated.

For those who still have outstanding criminal records, working with an experienced marijuana lawyer to petition the court to expedite the processing of your case may be advantageous for those who need their case to be cleared faster (usually for work, school, or housing).

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, labs, ancillary companies, patients, doctors and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

California was supposed to clear cannabis convictions. Tens of thousands are still languishing, Jan. 13, 2022, By Kiera Feldman, The Los Angeles Times

When California legalized cannabis for recreational purposes with Prop. 64, broadly opening the market for adult consumers earlier this year, it did not legalize all cultivation, production, sale and possession of the drug. Instead, marijuana legalization was inducted into a highly-regulated market. And while criminal arrests for cannabis possession are down, there is still a risk of running afoul of state regulations and criminal codes.

This summer, a crime report issued by the state revealed that while marijuana-related arrests in mid-2018 saw a significant drop this year compared to last (56 percent overall, with felony marijuana arrests down 74 percent), there is still a risk that Californians and visitors could face substantial jail or prison terms, hefty fines and criminal records. Still, the number facing those risks fell by 8,000 from 2016 to 2017.

Los Angeles marijuana criminal defense attorneys as well as those with the Drug Policy Alliance and other supporters who have long-backed marijuana legalization efforts, overall this is good news, as it means less taxpayer-funded law enforcement resources are being dedicated to non-violent drug-related offenses, and the focus now can rightly shift to more serious crimes.

Still, the laws for cannabis cultivation, production and possession still leave the door wide open for adverse contact with local law enforcement agencies – and a potential criminal record. In October, the California Attorney General initiated a widespread crackdown on unlawful cultivation of marijuana, arresting 52 people statewide, eradicating more than 614,000 plants at more than 250 cannabis farms that were allegedly operating illegally. Officials also seized some 110 firearms over the course of the 12-week operation, which targeted cannabis cultivation the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside, according to the California Department of Justice press release. A particular focus of the enforcement effort were drug traffickers diverting public water and land resources and using unlawful pesticides, including one called carbofuran, which can be extremely dangerous.

Still, most people arrested for marijuana in Los Angeles and across the state are nabbed for misdemeanors. The San Jose Mercury News reported in July that of all marijuana-related arrests in California in 2017, roughly 2,100 were for felony offenses while another 4,000 were for misdemeanor marijuana offenses. Unfortunately (though not surprisingly, given the long history of drug enforcement), people of color are disproportionately targeted – to a significant degree. White, non-Hispanic defendants accounted for 24 percent of the total felony arrests last year. Those identified as Hispanic accounted for 40 percent and black people accounted for 21 percent. This is despite the fact that research has time and again shown all three to consume marijuana at largely the same rates.

While Proposition 64 did significantly reduce penalties for just about every marijuana crime in California (possession with intent to sell was downgraded from felony to misdemeanor, transporting up to one ounce went from being a misdemeanor to lawful for anyone over the age of 21), it’s still a felony crime to employ minors to sell marijuana or to grow substantial amounts of the plant absent a license. Most legal marijuana advocates never expected that marijuana crimes would be entirely eradicated by California’s new law, nor was there an expectation that these laws would root out the underlying racism that apparently exists in drug law enforcement.

Still, it does seem to our marijuana criminal defense attorneys in Los Angeles that law enforcement agencies in California are starting to get the message, recognizing that if the penalty for a crime has been reduced from five years to six months, their resources are better spent elsewhere.

The biggest issue – one many law enforcement agencies say has become more problematic since legalization – is driving under the influence of marijuana. It’s not as easy to identify as drunk driving because marijuana is not processed as quickly through the human body as alcohol, but police agencies are investing in more drug recognition experts (DREs) to try to secure more convictions. California Vehicle Code 23152(f) allows up to 6 months in jail, a $1,000 fine, 3-9 months of DUI school and up to 10 months of a suspended license (or restricted license) for conviction on just the first offense.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Prop. 64 didn’t legalize every cannabis crime, but arrests are falling fast, July 11, 2018, By Brooke Staggs, San Jose Mercury News

More Blog Entries:

California Cannabis Insurance: Risks and Regulations, Dec. 5, 2018, Los Angeles Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog