The Lansing community is about to get more opportunities to move past their criminal histories with marijuana.
On April 11th of this year, Michigan’s Clean Slate Act officially went into effect.
What is the Clean Slate Act?
The Clean Slate Act is a new law which expands access to petition for expungements of certain crimes. This expansion means that more people are now eligible to have their records sealed for certain non-violent criminal convictions. Essentially, if you have your charge expunged by the courts, future employers, home renters, and loan officers will not see any expunged conviction. The law is designed to eliminate stigma for people with convictions who have lead an otherwise law-abiding life and have not had any criminal convictions for a period of time (7 years for misdemeanors, and 10 years for felonies).
Pure Options has seized the opportunity to help the community through the marijuana-specific portion of the Clean Slate Act. The Clean Slate Act has a special “Application to Set Aside for Misdemeanor Marihuana Convictions”. This application covers possession, use, and selling marihuana paraphernalia. Anyone with these convictions can apply to have the conviction set aside (or expunged) by the court from which they received the conviction.
On August 14th, 2021, Pure Options is holding an Expungement clinic for Marijuana Misdemeanors in Ingham County.
On August 14th, 2021, Pure Options is holding an Expungement clinic for Marijuana Misdemeanors in Ingham County. This means that if you received a misdemeanor marijuana conviction in any of the 4 Ingham County courts (30th Circuit Court, 54 A District Court, 54 B District Court, or 55th District Court), you are eligible to have your conviction expunged. To join the clinic, you need to register online with our partner Legal Services of South Central Michigan (LSSCM). You can find their registration form using the QR code provided below, or by going to the Pure Options website.
Our Expungement Clinic will pair up to 100 participants with legal volunteers (lawyers, legal admin, paralegals, and law students) to walk through the process and have all participants leave with an application ready to be submitted to the court.
Why is this law (and our clinic) so important?
The Clean Slate Act is a step in the right direction to correcting certain imbalances in Michigan’s storied and rocky justice system. The point is to eliminate convictions people have incurred for crimes that are no longer on the books (including marijuana charges now that cannabis is recreationally legal for all adults in the state). While it is not perfect, one thing that the Clean Slate Act does provide is compulsory expungement: once an application has been filed with the court, the judge has 60 days to answer (or challenge) the expungement. If the application is not answered, the court MUST set aside the conviction within 21 days. This part of the Clean Slate Act streamlines the expungement process and makes sure that these applications cannot simply hang in limbo without actually being set aside.
Social Equity Promise
Social Equity PromisePure Options is dedicated to upward mobility for the mid-Michigan community. Our Expungement clinic is only one part of what we do to donate, fund, and promote various community-building activities inside our Lansing community.
If you are interested in helping out, in participating with, or in supporting our Social Equity Promise, reach out to marlal@pureoptions.com for more information.
We hope to see you on August 14th at SOS Shared Offices for the expungement clinic. If you know anyone that may be seeking an expungement for a marijuana conviction, have them visit the sign-up form at the link below and they can get started. We are only allowing 100 participants, first come, first serve, so get your spot quick.
