Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on Monday that nearly 60,000 cannabis convictions would be dismissed.
"Dismissing these convictions," Gascón says, "means the possibility of a better future to thousands of disenfranchised people who are receiving this long-needed relief. It clears the path for them to find jobs, housing and other services that previously were denied to them because of unjust cannabis laws."
The release dictates, along with the recent announcement, that the total number of cannabis convictions dismissed now totals nearly 125,000.
Lynne Lyman, former director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said, "this is the unfinished work of Proposition 64;" a proposition which Gascón co-authored, making cannabis legal in California back in 2016.
"We created the opportunity for old cannabis convictions to be cleared," Lyman added, "but it was up to local district attorneys to actually make it happen. Proposition 64 was always about more than legal weed, it was an intentional effort to repair the past harms of the war on drugs and cannabis prohibition, which disproportionately targeted people of color. I applaud District Attorney Gascón for taking this action to help nearly 60,000 Angelenos have their records fully sealed."
The effort was aided by The Social Impact Center, which serves as a bridge between government and grassroots organizations. Felicia Carbajal, the organization's executive director, and community leader, says, "I have made it my life mission to help and support people who have been impacted by the 'war on drugs.' Giving people with cannabis convictions a new lease on life by expunging the records is something I have worked on for years and I am grateful that we can now make it happen."
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