Despite much fanfare, Denver’s attempt to help people shed the burden of minor marijuana convictions experienced a slow start.

Extremely slow.

In Denver, 60 people have successfully vacated their convictions in the city program’s first six months — less than 1% of the more than 13,000 eligible for expungement, according to city data. In Boulder, 11 people have cleared their record of the at least 4,000 people eligible, according to the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.

Seven years after legalization and two years after state lawmakers passed a bill allowing expungement, city leaders and prosecutors are struggling to guide people through a complex process to erase minor pot convictions. The process can be lengthy and often requires digging through court records — if those documents can be found.

Ashley Kilroy, director of Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses which oversees the city’s Turn Over a New Leaf program, said she is happy about Denver’s numbers. She expected turnout to be low based on the experience of other cities that have instituted similar programs.

“I think we did the best we could,” she said.

Hundreds more applied to the programs, but were ineligible because their case happened in other jurisdictions or because they were convicted of charges that don’t qualify for expungement. The city department has started working in the jails to contact people who may be eligible.

Convictions of even low-level marijuana offenses can affect people’s ability to get a job, secure a loan, gain admission to educational programs and their ability to travel, Kilroy said.

It’s difficult to point out exactly what caused the low turnout, Kilroy said. The city attempted to address barriers such as transportation by providing ride-share coupons and scheduled the clinics at different times so people with different work schedules could attend.

In a Denver city report issued last month, city attorneys said it’s often unclear who is eligible for the program under the law. The law allows expungement of criminal actions that would not be considered illegal after legalization.

“Without detailed records the nature of the charged violation may be unclear,” the report states. “For example, a conviction for the possession of drug paraphernalia may be related to marijuana, or it may be related to methamphetamine or cocaine.”

States that recently legalized marijuana have included provisions that would automatically expunge low-level marijuana convictions, said Sam Kamin, professor of marijuana law and policy at the University of Denver. States such as Illinois have put the onus on the state to automatically erase eligible convictions. But Colorado, being the first state to legalize, did not.

“Tying expungement to legalization is a relatively new phenomena,” Kamin said.

Some California prosecutors decided to automatically dismiss or reduce more than 54,000 marijuana convictions after applications for expungement there were lackluster. The prosecutors will use a computer algorithm to quickly identify the cases that are eligible.

In Colorado, however, people with convictions have to initiate the expungement process. In cities where no program exists, people often must hire a lawyer to file a motion for them. And the court processing fee is $65. They also must pay $28 for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to erase the conviction from appearing on background checks.

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said it’s unclear whether Colorado prosecutors can unilaterally vacate convictions without defendants’ input.

“I don’t want to say it’s not possible but there are different schools of thought,” he said.

Expungement isn’t a simple process, Kamin said. Some people may have been charged with a crime that isn’t eligible for expungement — such as selling marijuana — but pleaded down to a lesser charge that is eligible. Some court files do not show exactly what drug the person was arrested for possessing, he said.

“You’re retrying this case many years later,” Kamin said.

One solution lawmakers could consider would be directing the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to clear all eligible convictions from their backgrounding system, Dougherty said. While it won’t affect the court cases, it would prevent the convictions from showing up on a background check.

Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses estimated it spent $26,500 on staff time to plan and host five clinics. It also spent about $7,000 in court fees and for advertising. It did not calculate how much time staff spent processing applications.

Eric Escudero, spokesman for the Excise and License department, said the program is attempting to address some of the social injustices spawned by a decades-long war on drugs.

“It’s not going to take six months or one year to undo that,” he said.

A proposal unveiled Wednesday for legal marijuana sales throughout New Mexico would use taxes to subsidize medical pot purchases for low-income patients and set aside money for police and loans to cannabis startup companies.

A panel appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, published recommendations for legalization that take cues from other states that regulate recreational marijuana markets.

The proposal would prohibit local governments from banning marijuana sales, though they could apply restrictions on business hours and locations, said Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, who led the governor’s task force on legalization.

The provision is aimed at curbing illicit markets and keeping marijuana shoppers from traveling long distances.

The recommendations will now go to the Legislature for consideration.

Davis said several elements would set New Mexico apart from other states, in part by protecting its medical marijuana program from a potential exodus of patients — an outcome that has been seen in several other states.

“We’re going to use some of the revenue from recreational marijuana to reinvest … so we don’t lose those patients,” he said.

Medical marijuana is currently taxed on average at 7% but would become tax-free under the legalization proposal. Millions of dollars would be set aside to subsidize cannabis for low-income patients with qualifying medical conditions such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder or chronic pain.

All licensed recreational marijuana business would be required to serve the medical marijuana market, with priority given to patients when supplies are scarce.

The recommendations from the 23-member task force set the stage for a new push to authorize recreational use and sales of marijuana when the state Legislature convenes in January.

Bipartisan legalization legislation stalled in the state Senate earlier this year. The measure proposed state-operated marijuana stores as a way to limit the proliferation of storefront shops in small towns. It encountered resistance from existing medical dispensary owners.

Lujan Grisham has made her support for recreational marijuana contingent on finding ways to protect children and ensure roadway safety and effective workplace regulation.

The task force recommendations include a ban on marijuana ads on television, radio and mobile devices.

Nonsmoking marijuana products would be tested and labeled to show the concentration of psychoactive THC to try to reduce hospital visits linked to unintentionally high doses of THC.

Legal cannabis would be treated much like alcohol when it comes to the workplace. Workers currently must demonstrate that a long period of time separates intoxication and job duties.

To pay for safety and other initiatives, a 10% excise tax on recreational pot was suggested, with proceeds divided equally between state and local governments. Combined with taxes on sales and business transactions, that would mean an average markup of 17% for marijuana.

Initial annual revenues of $55 million were anticipated, a figure that officials have predicted could double within five years.

A cannabis venture fund would provide loans to low-income and small family owned businesses to start marijuana businesses and provide cannabis-industry job training at community colleges.

The recommendations would continue the state’s prohibition on growing marijuana at home without a specialized medical authorization, while decriminalizing minor violations. The task force endorsed automatic expungement of past cannabis possession convictions.

Currently, medical pot patients must register for a personal production license to grow up to 16 plants at a time — a figure that includes just four mature plants with ingestible flowers.

Prevailing attitudes in Ireland still hold cannabis as a dangerous substance, in contrast to the support of strictly-controlled medicinal marijuana.

Despite being known as “The Emerald Isle,” cannabis remains illegal for recreational use in Ireland, while medicinal use has only recently been legalized and approved for specific conditions as a “last resort” treatment. Prevailing attitudes in Ireland still consider the marijuana plant as dangerous, in contrast to the support of strictly-controlled medical cannabis. Nonetheless, personal possession and consumption is treated as a minor offense. But could the Irish be softening their stance on cannabis and be in the early stages of legalization?

Cannabis has been considered an illegal substance in Ireland since 1934, although today the police in Ireland have wide discretion in the enforcement of marijuana possession laws. In 1996, cannabis was made an unscheduled drug, allowing for penalties less harsh than for other substances on the illicit market.

Hemp and CBD, however, are legal in Ireland, and similar to other markets, the CBD rush is happening in Erie as well; one industry expert estimates that CBD could create 80,000 jobs and revitalize moribund rural economies. The cultivation of the cannabis plant for hemp and CBD is strictly controlled, can not be grown alongside public roads or in public view, and cultivators are subject to Garda (police) vetting.

Like CBD and hemp, medical marijuana is legal but strictly regulated, with a five-year pilot program recently signed into law and expected to go into effect soon. The new law allows doctors to prescribe cannabis to their patients to treat specific symptoms arising from multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy, and epilepsy, and only when other methods to abate conditions have proved ineffective. The new program also allows for importation of cannabis, with eyes towards domestic sourcing. In some cases, the cost of cannabis would be covered by the patient’s drug plan.

Like in many western nations where cannabis remains prohibited but largely tolerated, cannabis is not overly difficult to obtain, although its recreational use is more taboo than in Canada, and much of the US and Western Europe. While medicinal marijuana was still under consideration, a group of Irish physicians penned an open letter to the Irish Times warning that the allowing of medicinal use would lead to the legalization of recreational cannabis, characterizing medical marijuana as a “Trojan Horse.”

There seems to be little to suggest Ireland will be legalizing recreational marijuana soon, but a curious legal loophole exists within Irish law; cannabis seeds are legal to sell, buy, and possess, for collecting purposes. Germinating and cultivating cannabis from those same seeds remains illegal however.

New this fall, Indiana farmers are harvesting thousands of acres of hemp for the first time in several decades. With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill and Indiana Senate Bill 516, a select group of licensed farmers were approved to grow and harvest a hemp crop in 2019 as part of a research trial.

Several Indiana Farm Bureau members were among the select group who used this season was an opportunity to learn about the crop and the different markets for hemp, such as fiber, grain and oil.

Mark Boyer, Miami County farmer and owner of Healthy Hoosier Oil, planted 50 acres of hemp this spring. Boyer owns an edible oil company, and is incorporating food-grade hemp oil, which his customers will use for cooking, into his existing lineup of products, such as sunflower and canola oil. Because of Boyer’s experience with oils, he felt uniquely prepared to try the new crop.

“We have a food-grade, cold-press oil extraction facility on our farm where we extract oil that goes directly into distribution,” said Boyer. “I’ve been doing that for six years, and I learned that the only way hemp seed oil can be extracted for food grade is through cold press, and that’s exactly what I am set up to do.”

While Boyer grows a grain variety of hemp which later becomes oil, Jay Berry, Grant County farmer and owner of IGNITE Racing Fuel, is growing a fiber variety this year, which can be used for clothing, home interior products and even automotive interior, such as the reinforcement of door panels and passenger rear decks. Berry is heavily involved in the automotive performance industry and is seeing a lot of interest in hemp from the industry.

“A lot of my connections are in the racing industry,” he explained. “Hemp fiber is cheaper and stronger than something like carbon fiber, so just in the performance world there is a massive market that is interested in it.”

Other Indiana farmers are growing hemp for CBD, a popular oil in the wellness industry. The end-use of the hemp dictates different growing, harvesting and processing requirements. Both Boyer and Berry use the majority of their farmland to grow more traditional Indiana row crops, like corn and soybeans. They say there are many differences in the way they grow and care for hemp.

“Growing hemp is a lot more labor intensive than expected,” said Berry. “I’ve been through the field twice as many times as corn and beans.”

“People have joked that it could grow on a rock, but that has not been my experience,” echoed Boyer. “It has been very challenging to grow and it requires a lot of conditioning at harvest because it has to be harvested very wet.”

Jamie Campbell Petty, founder and strategic advisor for Indiana Hemp Industries Association and co-founder and executive director for the Midwest Hemp Council – a communication hub for farmers, processors and retailers – said that many farmers were not adequately prepared for the intense labor involved with growing CBD.

“Growing for CBD is, generally speaking, horticulture,” Petty said. “Many would like to convince you that hemp is a weed, and it will grow anywhere. That’s not true. Hemp is photosensitive, so it grows best in well-drained soil. It does not like wet feet. And, until we are further down the road with genetics, seed instability is an issue.”

For many Indiana farmers, the possibility of diversifying their farms with the addition of hemp is intriguing during a down farm economy. INFB President Randy Kron said there are a lot of exciting possibilities for hemp in the near future, but it’s not going to be a miracle crop for every farmer.

“Our most innovative farmers are always evaluating opportunities to diversify their farms for additional stability,” said Kron. “For some farmers, hemp will become just that. It’s an individual decision for each farmer whether hemp will work for their business, but it’s great to have another option for a crop.”

As with any new crop, farmers are learning about the viability of new markets to determine if growing hemp is a wise business decision for the future of their operation.

“We need to be sure we establish the markets and see where this has the potential to go,” said Boyer. “Hemp is exciting as it has so many diverse uses, but how many of those uses are economically viable for us, we just don’t know because we haven’t had the time to test it out. The markets will develop and we will get there, but it takes time and plenty of work.”

Boyer has become somewhat of a resource to other Indiana farmers because he had the opportunity to grow hemp in 2018 as part of an early research trial with Purdue University. He says farmers are contacting him more and more to learn about his experiences.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest from farmers,” he said. “I get calls nearly every day.”

Despite early challenges, the select group of farmers growing hemp this year is generally excited about the economic possibilities.

“Hemp has a very bright future, we just have to go through some growing pains and learn,” said Berry. “The first people to grow will learn and be able to pass on notes to other farmers so we can all improve.”

“Indiana could be a leader in this industry, but we must all collaborate and work together, to take lessons learned from other states, other industries so that we don't overproduce and we don't invest in excessive infrastructure,” Petty added.

Commercial hemp production is expected to launch fully in 2020 pending the approval of national regulations by the USDA and approval of Indiana’s state program.

The office of the Indiana State Chemist recommends that farmers interested in producing hemp in 2020 begin preparing all necessary details now. They recommend creating a business plan, getting contacts in place, and identifying any process or processors needed or specific varieties needed to meet buyer specifications as soon as possible.