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.

A medical marijuana bill without expungement reform burdens thousands of Mississippians with a criminal record for a crime that no longer exists. Why is this meaningful? Because criminal records have been proven to create obstacles to reentry, including reducing a job seeker’s chance of receiving a callback by nearly 50 percent. This subsequently decreases a formerly incarcerated person’s capacity to pay off debts, including court fees, victim’s restitution, and child support. We need a fair and quick expungement route, so these…

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.

A medical marijuana bill without expungement reform burdens thousands of Mississippians with a criminal record for a crime that no longer exists. Why is this meaningful? Because criminal records have been proven to create obstacles to reentry, including reducing a job seeker’s chance of receiving a callback by nearly 50 percent. This subsequently decreases a formerly incarcerated person’s capacity to pay off debts, including court fees, victim’s restitution, and child support. We need a fair and quick expungement route, so these…