Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said in an announcement hours before the start of the new year that his state had eliminated nearly 500,000 marijuana-related convictions.
The move comes after Pritzker signed the legislation in 2019 that legalizes recreational marijuana use in the state from 2020. Expansive legislation also paved the way for 770,000 state residents to be eligible. to eliminate marijuana-related crimes.
Pritzker initially estimated that it would take four years to begin removing records, but announced Thursday that nearly 500,000 had already been released by 2021.
“We reached this milestone a year after what will be a continued effort to correct the historic shortcomings driven by the war on drugs,” he tweeted.
I am proud to announce that nearly 500,000 records related to low-level cannabis in Illinois have been removed, four years ahead of schedule.
We reached this milestone a year after what will be a continuing effort to correct the historical ills driven by the war on drugs.
– Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) December 31, 2020
We will never be able to fully address the depth of damage in communities of color, which have taken on this burden disproportionately. But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past and the decency to set a better path forward.
– Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) December 31, 2020
“We will never be able to fully solve the depth of the damage in the communities of color, which have taken on this burden disproportionately. But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past and the decency to establish a better path to come in. . “
Illinois joins more than a dozen states in recent years that have recreated legalized marijuana and tried to address drug-related convictions.
California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington have enacted legislation to explicitly expel or seal records of convicted low-level offenders. marijuana.