News Clean Slates Promised Under New York Marijuana Law Prove Complicated

[thegreenhand]

Clean Slates Promised Under New York Marijuana Law Prove Complicated​

Corey Kilgannon, Wesley Parnell
New York Times
11 Feb 2023

Excerpts:

When New York legalized recreational marijuana two years ago, it was meant to tear up the path to prison that being convicted of possession had long paved.

The vast majority of the nearly 9,000 felony marijuana convictions remain on offenders’ records long after they have served their sentences. In addition, scores of minor marijuana convictions that accompanied more serious crimes cannot be expunged automatically despite the law requiring it.

Most felons have not even sought to clear their charges — some because they did not know the new law allowed it, others because they thought it would happen automatically and still others because of the arduous filing process, advocates say.

Furthermore, the omission of a single digit in the legalization legislation — the Roman numeral i — has precluded felons from filing a straightforward form to receive a conviction reduction. The mistake remains uncorrected.

“It’s literally a typo,” Emma Goodman, a Legal Aid Society staff attorney, said of the error, which has prompted eye-rolling jokes about government dysfunction.

 

[Dead Machination]

I wonder how many cumulative years people have done in prison due solely to "typos"?

 

[neversickanymore]

I didn’t read the article but an old partner of mine just moved back there and he said it’s an utter mess.

For instance the laws apparently don’t allow vertical integration.. so a dispensary owner can’t also own a grow. What that nonsense all about. So he was just telling me that no ones up and running at this point either.

For some reason MJ just continuously attracts problems it never deserves.