By David Abott | Tucson Weekly
There are nearly 200,000 estimated expungable cannabis offenses throughout the state of Arizona and on July 12, the floodgates will open for those affected by old cannabis laws to petition to have charges on their criminal records sealed.
While some petitioners may be able to expedite the process through the websites of their county attorney’s office, many will likely need some help navigating the system.
To help affected individuals figure out how to move forward, Southern Arizona NORML will host a self-help expungement clinic in Tucson at Harambe Café, 6464 E. Tanque Verde, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 3.
The clinic will be conducted by lawyers specializing in amicus or criminal law, who will walk qualified applicants through the process.
“We provide people with information about how they can fill out petitions themselves, so these are self-help clinics,” Arizona NORML Communications Director (and Rose Law Group attorney) Jon Udell said. “We’re not going to file petitions for people. There’s a lot of risk that goes along with doing that. We’ll essentially walk them through the petition that was released by the Arizona Supreme Court, explain what the different sections require and provide information.”
