Illinois’ Governor Has Granted More Than 11,000 Pardons For Marijuana Convictions

What a way for a state to end 2019. Today, Illinois’ governor granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuna convictions across 92 of the state’s 102 counties.

This move is the first wave of thousands of expungements anticipated under Illinois’ new marijuana legalization law. The expungement process is a key part of the law, which takes effect Wednesday and makes Illinois the 11th state to legalize marijuana for people 21 or older, ABC News reports. 

When they were writing this law, Illinois lawmakers said they wanted to repair some of the damage caused by law enforcement’s efforts to combat sale and use of marijuana, particularly in minority communities. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker announced the pardons at a church on Chicago’s South Side. 

“The 11,017 pardons that Gov. Pritzker is granting today are thousands of lives forever changed — and hundreds of thousands more will be changed in the coming months,” said Toi Hutchinson , a former state senator who now is an adviser to Pritzker on marijuana policy. “Those who were unfairly targeted by discriminatory drug laws can finally get ahead and build a new future for themselves and their families.”

Pritzker said clearing the misdemeanor offenses from individuals’ records will make it easier for them to get jobs, housing and financial aid for college.

But when officials said this was just the beginning, they weren’t lying. State officials estimate that 116,000 convictions involving 30 grams or less of marijuana, including for possession of the drug, would now be eligible for pardons under the new law. 

Illinois State Police are responsible for identifying those convictions and sending the records to the state’s Prisoner Review Board. The board then forwarded eligible cases to the governor’s office for pardons. 

Pritzker’s pardons allow the state’s attorney general to ask courts to formally clear or seal the records. 

“We are ending the 50-year-long war on cannabis,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We are restoring rights to many tens of thousands of Illinoisans. We are bringing regulation and safety to a previously unsafe and illegal market. And we are creating a new industry that puts equity at its very core.” 

“We know that Black Illinois residents are far more likely to be arrested and convicted for marijuana possession than whites,” said Ben Ruddell, criminal justice policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “This is a good step forward as we begin the legal sales of recreational marijuana.”

Law enforcement agencies have a five-year period to expunge records of minor marijuana arrests that did not result in a conviction.

Officials estimate that 572,000 arrest records qualify. Marijuana arrests accompanied by violent offenses aren’t eligible for expungement.

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