Mike Robinette (left), Executive Director of Southern Arizona NORML and Deputy Director of Arizona NORML with Jonathan Udell, Rose Law Group cannabis attorney.
By Elliot Polakoff | AZ Family
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Legalizing marijuana has the potential to impact Arizona in so many ways, and now hundreds of thousands of Arizonans will soon have the chance to have any non-violent cannabis convictions cleared from their criminal record. Saturday at Green Goods Dispensary in Phoenix, a free clinic helped dozens of Arizonans get started on that process.
“I get goosebumps just thinking about it honestly because I don’t know how to really explain how it would change my life,” says Phoenix resident Tim Kirkevold.
“Despite recent reforms, marijuana arrests still outnumber our arrests for all violent crimes combined. Indeed, the ACLU discovered that one marijuana arrest happens every thirty-seven seconds in America, and as far too many people have come to know, these charges can stigmatize people for a lifetime, limiting their access to jobs, housing, and other important opportunities. Worse yet, although more than half of Americans have consumed cannabis, people from marginalized communities shoulder prohibition’s heaviest burden.
In the words of a prominent author: ‘In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime is getting caught.’ As we continue inching closer to Prop. 207’s expungement provisions taking effect this July, I look forward to counseling more Arizonans about how to clear their record of unjust offenses.”
Jonathan Udell, Rose Law Group cannabis attorney
