There is also the question of how to deal with convictions for actually selling or distributing marijuana given that the state has just released regulations that will allow businesses to do so. Irwin said that roughly 20,000 Michiganders fall into this category—and that they, too, are addressed in his bill.

“The other thing the bill does is it gives them (people with distribution and/or sale convictions) additional chances to apply (for expungement), and gives the court some direction to grant expungement of records in cases where the details of the individual’s crime would fall within what is now legal under Proposal 1,” he said.

The lag between legalizing marijuana and removing the legal burdens from people with past pot convictions isn’t limited to Michigan. In Michigan, advocates weren’t able to include an avenue for expungement because the state’s constitution limits ballot proposals to a single issue.

Overall, though, “The conversation regarding expungement is a recent one. At the time some of the initial state adult use initiatives were written and enacted, this was not part of the conversation,” said National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Deputy Director Paul Armentano in an Aug. 7 email to Daily Kos. “So in almost all cases, lawmakers have revisited the issue well after the fact and separately enacted legislation to address expungement.”

There are two notable exceptions to the legalize first, give past offenders relief later rule: California and Illinois. “California was the first statewide initiative to explicitly include expungement; in this case automatic expungement. Its passage is what really changed the narrative,” Armentano said, while in June Illinois was the first state to pass comprehensive adult use permissions, which also included an expungement process.

In a May interview with Michigan Public Radio’s Margeaux Bruner, the political director for the Michigan Cannabis Industry explained what’s at stake for people who still have past marijuana convictions on their records. Such convictions can bar a person from public housing, getting a student loan, or even applying for certain jobs.

A March report on Michigan expungement laws by researchers at the University of Michigan called living with the effects of any past conviction, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, a “new civil death.” But while the state does currently offer other avenues for those who have broken a wide range of laws to have their criminal records expunged, the U of M researchers found “only 6.5% of eligible individuals receive them within five years of the date at which they first qualify.” The low rate of successful expungements could be because, according to this October 2018 blog post by Safe & Just Michigan, “Michigan’s expungement law is both too restrictive and too difficult to use.”

And while Michigan’s governor does have the power to issue pardons, that process is far too cumbersome to be of service to people with past pot convictions. Chris Gautz, a spokesperson for Michigan’s Department of Corrections—which oversees the state’s Parole Board—told Daily Kos that the governor’s office and the Parole Board office “did talk about what would be the most expeditious way” to assist people dealing with marijuana convictions.

The problem, Gautz said, is that before a pardon application can even reach the governor’s desk, the law requires public hearings with a wide array of witnesses. “The process can take months and months, even for a simple case,” Gautz explained. “If you’re talking about everybody in the state ever convicted (for a marijuana offence) you could be talking about a decade to get everybody through.”

For her own part, Gov. Whitmer said in a statement provided to Daily Kos that, while she is “exploring the scope of her powers” to help past pot law offenders, she “does not have the legal authority to unilaterally expunge marijuana convictions.” According to the statement, Gov. Whitmer hopes to see a legislative solution “to ensure that residents do not bear a lifelong record for conduct that would now be legal at the state level.”

The collateral consequences of a past criminal conviction are tremendously damaging—including past convictions for behavior (possession, use, and sale of pot) that are legal today. Contact your Michigan state senator and representative and ask them to support legislation that will lead to quick expungements for people with current and past pot convictions. Click here to find your Michigan state representative and senator.