Political

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.

Florida already has a medical marijuana program in place, but the consensus seems to be that unleashing the leaf from its prohibition standard is the next logical step.

The presidential election is just about a year away from either making America great again, again or sending it down the path to a long recovery from the clown shoe politics of the past four years. In the midst of the madness, there is marijuana. Some claim the issue has achieved great strides in 2019, more prominent than ever before, while those of us who reside in a more real place has clearly noticed that legal weed is not really in any better position than it has been in a long time.

But 2020 is supposed to be when the powers that be across the country (whomever they may be) are supposed to get serious about taking the next step to ending a nation of prohibition. Some think that Florida could be one of those states to carry the movement forward in a big way. But just how likely is it that the Sunshine State will pull it together? 

There are a couple of groups (Make It Legal Florida & Regulate Florida) doing an admirable job seeing that the question of legalizing marijuana makes it on the ballot in 2020. Make It legal Florida seems to have the best shot at getting it done, however, since it is the initiative drawing the largest financial support. That’s the thing about trying to legalize weed through the ballot initiative process — it’s super expensive. It can cost millions of dollars to break through to the people and secure their support. Some reports show that it could take $10 million to usher in a recreational weed law next year. As of September, Make It Legal Florida has amassed around $1.1 million.

Make It Legal Florida is also doing exceptionally well at collecting signatures. It gathered somewhere around 100,000 within the first 20 days of its campaign. Still, Regulate Florida isn’t doing too shabby either. The group announced in August that it had collected 77,000 signatures. All either one of these groups has to do is secure 76,632 verified signatures to get a review by the Florida Supreme Court (a weird step that Florida has in its ballot initiative process). 

But they would have to show 766,200 verified petitions by February to be cleared for the 2020 general election. So, it stands to reason that it is going to be grind time for the next few months for Florida to have a shot.

Florida lawmakers are already preparing for the voters to be presented with the question of legal weed next year. It was earlier this week that the House Health & Human Services Committee spent some time discussing the possibility. “We’re all going to be asked by our constituents where are we on this,” said Committee Chair Rep. Ray Rodrigues, (R-Estero), according to ABC News. “We need to be equipped to take a position and articulate why we’ve taken that position.”

The goal of both petitions is to legalize marijuana for adult use the same as 11 other states have done. Florida already has a medical marijuana program in place, something that was pushed through in a ballot measure in 2016, but the consensus seems to be that unleashing the leaf from its prohibition standard is the next logical step. Some of the latest polls show that Floridians are all about it, too. Sixty-five percent of the population is in favor of legalizing for recreational use. In Florida, it will take 60 percent of the vote to pass. But the biggest challenge, as of now, will be getting one of the groups to submit the required signature count before the February deadline. 

It’s time to kick it into high gear.