The Department of Public Safety in Minnesota posted an update Thursday on the state’s mandated automatic expungement of thousands of marijuana related criminal records, saying that employees are “hard working” to implement this process mandated by the legalization laws signed by the Governor last May.
The state has, in the meantime, added a new note to all criminal records. This notice informs reviewers that certain marijuana records which appear on record checks could be subject to expungement.
The Department’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced in June that an initial analysis revealed that over 66,000 criminal records were eligible for automatic erasure under the Adult-Use Cannabis Act. Another 230,000 felony records could be reviewed by the Cannabis Expungement Board.
Clean Slate Act is a law that was passed last year and will expunge criminal records automatically for non-violent crimes. This will begin in January 2025. The Department did not specify if that included any cannabis-related crimes which aren’t already eligible for expulsion under the Adult-Use Cannabis Act. This affects records made legal by the policy change.
The BCA is working hard to automate the expungement of cannabis-related records, the department reported. We have over a dozen employees and contractors working on automating the expungement records related to Clean Slate and cannabis. We continue to analyze the rules for identifying records, notifying law-enforcement agencies, and the Minnesota Judicial Branch.”
Our @MNDPS_BCA is implementing two decisions made by #mnleg which require the expungement certain criminal records. The Adult-Use Cannabis Act (AUA) and Clean Slate Act (CSA) will allow eligible records to be expunged. This will remove them from the public’s view. https://t.co/0gSpLZdet2 pic.twitter.com/EefIxKYegq
HTML0 — MnDPS_DPS January 4, 2020
The department also said that staff had begun to develop “certain changes” which would be needed to the website of the Criminal History System in the state.
Before these changes, officials flagged every criminal record in the database in a way that informs anyone who views the record of certain cannabis-related crimes that are pending expungement.
The update states that “while we continue to work to make changes to CHS in order to make these expungements feasible,” “we have added a language to all criminal records to indicate that the record may contain information regarding an act that’s no longer illegal”
This is what the new language that’s being added to records says:
The Minnesota Session Laws 2023, Chapter 64, Article 5, requires the automatic expungement for certain cannabis-related crimes as of August 1, 2023. The Criminal History System will be updated to reflect the changes. However, a person’s record could include cannabis-related crimes that are eligible for an automatic expungement. A person’s record can also include cannabis-related crimes that are eligible to be reviewed by the Cannabis Expungement Board. The Board will decide whether the offense is eligible for a resentencing order or an expungement order through the Judicial Branch.”
The language will be in place until the work is complete to finish automatic expungement.
The department stated that expungements related to Clean Slate are expected to be implemented by the 2025 deadline.
Minnesota’s cannabis regulators have been preparing for the rule-making process around its upcoming retail cannabis market. This is expected to be open by 2025. The Office of Cannabis Management has circulated a series of surveys to include public input.
As of now, under the new law, adults over 21 can legally possess, use and grow marijuana to their own personal use. Gov. In August, Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat from Wisconsin, clarified that cannabis grown at home cannot be sold for commercial purposes.
Minnesota’s cannabis laws also allow tribes to open marijuana businesses, before the state licenses traditional retailers. Some tribal governments have entered the legal market. Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians , for instance, opened their medical dispensaries in August to adult consumers and announced plans to launch mobile retail vehicles to sell marijuana throughout the state.
In July, the White Earth Nation tribe opened a cannabis shop for adults. Its governing council voted to allow marijuana sales. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is also moving to legalize.
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OCM had a notable snag in September after Erin DuPree resigned after just one day after a Star Tribune reported that her hemp shop was allegedly selling illegal products. The lab results showed that the hemp shop sold illegal products and had high THC levels.
The Minnesota Supreme Court also ruled in the same month that the smell of marijuana alone does not constitute probable cause to allow police officers search a car.
Before the Governor signed the reform law, the state created a website to serve as a central hub of information on the new law. Officials are also soliciting vendors who can help create a licensing system.
A Study Shows That Most Cancer Survivors who Used Marijuana Reported ‘Great Dementia Improvement’
The post Minnesota Legalizes Marijuana While Officials Work ‘Hard’ on Expungements first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
