In Mississippi, medical marijuana bill must include expungement reformPosted by MMP News AuthorOn January 13, 2022

Mississippians have made it undeniably clear that medical marijuana should be legalized. Before the legalization became a casualty of a Supreme Court ruling that also struck down Mississippi’s vital ballot initiative process, over 800,000 voters agreed that medical marijuana is both a health and democratic necessity.

Now that the legislature is back in session, and legalized medical marijuana is left for us to make happen, we must acknowledge what has been missing from the conversation — expungements for marijuana-related offenses.

In 2019, almost half of all arrests for drug possession and drug sales in the U.S. were for marijuana. That same year, the Mississippi Department of Corrections reported one out of five people in custody were incarcerated due to a drug offense. We need to lift the load of the current heavy expungement process off the shoulders of the thousands of people who are already facing immense barriers to proper reentry.

Mississippians have made it undeniably clear that medical marijuana should be legalized. Before the legalization became a casualty of a Supreme Court ruling that also struck down Mississippi’s vital ballot initiative process, over 800,000 voters agreed that medical marijuana is both a health and democratic necessity.

Now that the legislature is back in session, and legalized medical marijuana is left for us to make happen, we must acknowledge what has been missing from the conversation — expungements for marijuana-related offenses.

In 2019, almost half of all arrests for drug possession and drug sales in the U.S. were for marijuana. That same year, the Mississippi Department of Corrections reported one out of five people in custody were incarcerated due to a drug offense. We need to lift the load of the current heavy expungement process off the shoulders of the thousands of people who are already facing immense barriers to proper reentry.