Courts Begin Erasing RI Residents' Marijuana Records

Rhode Islanders with marijuana-related criminal convictions might see their records scrubbed clean thanks to a new executive order issued by State Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell last week, court documents show.

Superior and District Court judges have been directed to begin reviewing and expunging the records of tens of thousands of residents with low-level marijuana-related convictions, after which all eligible convictions will be sealed by no later than July 1, 2024, according to the order.

An estimated 30,000 Rhode Islanders will be eligible to have their criminal records cleared, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws wrote in a news release.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano wrote. “Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that public officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”

According to the organization, the record-expungement provisions were included in legislation signed into law in May legalizing the possession, use, and retail sale of cannabis for adults.

To date, 24 states have enacted laws to erase marijuana-related convictions, NORML added in the release.

Read the full report at NORML.