Of the 71 Canadians who applied for pardons, only 44 people have been successful as of September 2019

About 68,000 people in Washington may soon bid farewell to their misdemeanour marijuana charges after a new state law passed this summer.

Under Bill 5605, those convicted of marijuana possession when they were 21 or older in Washington can apply to vacate the charges from their record. But the new law forces the court to wipe the charge, even if the person vacated convictions before or committed crimes since.

In total, 11 U.S. states have legalized recreational cannabis, 33 have legalized medicinal pot and 14 have decriminalized the drug.

Fox News reports 11,500 people are in federal prisons south of the border for nonviolent marijuana crimes and could be eligible for pardons.

Simple Pot Possession Pardons in Canada

Meanwhile in Canada, about 250,000 people are eligible to clear their simple pot possession charges (anyone with 30 grams of cannabis or less without the intention of selling or distributing the drug).

Of the 71 Canadians who applied for pardons, only 44 people have been successful as of September 2019.

Harrison Jordan, a cannabis lawyer based in Toronto, says the numbers aren’t surprising because the system is inaccessible and should resemble what Washington is doing.

“You can’t have had another conviction … just simple cannabis possession,” he says. “Not many people fit that bucket.”

The current process doesn’t force convicts to cough up the $631 legal fee but it does require fingerprints, records from the court where the person was originally convicted and a copy of their criminal record.

There was an earlier bid to create a system to expunge the charges but the federal government nixed the idea, launching a record suspension website in July instead.

Low number of applicants is “shocking”

Daniel Walker, a partner at Bobila Walker Law LLP, leading the firm’s cannabis law group says while Canada doesn’t have the best system in place, the low number of applicants is “shocking.”

“It shows that, number one, the rollout was not as effective and a better job could have been done and number two, people are not satisfied with the avenue provided by the government,” he says.

Walker wonders how much of an appetite there really was for pardons but says underprivileged communities may feel more discouraged to apply, pointing to activists, parliament hill or the stakeholders behind the ever-growing industry to help.

“Poorer clients aren’t going to go into a library and print off 30 pages and print off the pardon,” he says.

“Either the government steps in and provides ways for people to do it and if the government doesn’t do it—and they’re not—it’s possibly up the stakeholders making money off the industry to do so.”

Pardons may not help Canadians trying to cross the border

A pardon also may not be enough to help Canadian travel past country lines, with reports of people having to turn around despite having their record scrubbed.

“It does appear there is at least some record the person has been arrested that is sometimes kept in secret,” Jordan says.

He adds that a Canadian pardon “doesn’t mean much” to the U.S. and getting across the border comes down to the customs officer’s questions and what they have in their system.

“Someone might have go to the border and be rejected to be eligible for a waiver,” he says.

Walker says the government should require the RCMP, local police and other agencies that keep records to remove and erase what they may have and what they may have shared with international authorities.

Canada, he adds, could also think about loosening the laws.

“Most counsel would agree with complete expungement,” Walker says. “It intersects with how far the government wants to go with assisting people in having a fully clean record.”

• Email: bhristova@postmedia.com | Twitter: bobbyhristova

Want to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribe to the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.