Santa Fe, NM: Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed legislation, House Bill 314, into law facilitating a process whereby those with past cannabis convictions can verify that their criminal records have been expunged.
The Governor previously signed legislation in 2021 providing for the automatic review and expungement of the records of those convicted of certain low-level marijuana offenses. The new law permits persons charged with offenses eligible for automatic expungement to “verify whether automatic expungement has occurred, and [to] request expedited automatic expungement if eligible charges have not yet been expunged.”
The new law also allows persons convicted of multiple offenses to request to have their cannabis-specific convictions expunged.
To date, 24 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws providing explicit pathways to either expunge (or otherwise set aside) the records of those with low-level marijuana convictions. According to publicly available data compiled by NORML, state and local officials have issued over 100,000 pardons and more than 1.7 million marijuana-related expungements since 2018.
Read the full text of the NORML Report, Marijuana Pardons and Expungements: By the Numbers,
Source: NORML – make a donation