Can You Get Your Cannabis Charge Expunged In Michigan?

Michigan residents with misdemeanor marijuana charges are now eligible for a clean slate thanks to a series of new bills.

On Monday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a series of bills to extend eligibility qualifications for criminal record expungement, especially those with misdemeanor marijuana convictions.

The same day, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced a new website that helps Michigan residents learn more about the process of expunging marijuana-related criminal records, which requires an application.

The new website states the following: “a person convicted of 1 or more misdemeanor or local ordinance marijuana crimes may petition the convicting court to set aside the convictions if they were based on activity that would not have been a crime after December 6, 2018, when a 2018 voter-passed initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Michigan went into effect.”

Michigan was pro-weed legalization when they voted for recreational use in 2018, which won by an 11-point margin. After 50 of Michigan’s 83 counties were in favor of the plan, legal and recreational use became legal, and cannabis went up for sale in Dec. 2019. The new series of bills signed on Monday is available to read here.