Rise cannabis dispensary in Bloomfield will host an open event on Friday to assist applicants seeking to clear their public records of lingering marijuana-related convictions years after the drug was decriminalized by Gov. Phil Murphy.
Attorneys will be on hand to file for the expungement of any qualifying convictions, which removes any record of the offense from the judiciary’s public databases. As a result, former defendants will no longer be subject to life-altering mandates, such as reporting bygone felonies to prospective employers or disclosing them on college applications.
“Expungements do more than erase records, they unlock futures,” said Chirali Patel, founder of the cannabis advocacy group Blaze Responsibly, which has partnered with Rise to coordinate the free service. “They give individuals the chance to rebuild their lives, strengthen family bonds, and contribute to their communities.”
The event will be open to anyone age 21 and over from 5-8:30 p.m., on March 21, in the Rise parking lot at 26-48 Bloomfield Ave.
Would-be applicants are encouraged but not required to bring court records such as dispositions, case paperwork or background checks, according to Cate McLoughlin, a spokesperson for Blaze Responsibly, a cannabis advocacy group. Attorneys on-site will have access to a judicial database.
The Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act of 2021 provided for the expungement of prior and pending marijuana convictions as the state legalized the sale of cannabis products to anyone age 21 and older without a medical card.
Persons eligible for expungement include anyone convicted of one of the following offenses: distributing less than one ounce of marijuana or 5 grams of hashish, possession of those substances in amounts less than 51 grams or more than 50 grams with regards to marijuana, or less than 6 grams, or more than 5 grams with regards to hashish, according to the state courts website.
Applicants with more than one of the above charges are precluded from expungement under the 2021 law. However, an applicant can expunge one of the above convictions as well as any number of the following: use or being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, or having failed to lawfully dispossess themselves of a controlled substance.
Additionally, persons convicted of attempts or conspiracy to commit any of those violations also qualify for a clean slate under a ruling handed down by the state Supreme Court in 2023, two years after Murphy signed the bill ― commonly abbreviated as “the CREAMM act” ― into law.
Although Blaze Responsibly focuses on marijuana reform and industry support, the organization’s attorneys can field requests to expunge any number of offenses, precluding adjudications related to homicide, human trafficking, sexual assault, and other serious felonies, according to McLoughlin.
In cases where an applicant has not been subject to any convictions in the past 10 years, they may qualify for a “clean slate,” that would remove their criminal record in whole, McLoughlin stated. Applicants without new convictions in the past five years may have up to one indictable offense and several disorderly persons convictions removed from the judiciary’s public files, she stated.
Rise cannabis dispensary hosting expungement event in Bloomfield on Friday – NorthJersey.com
