What are the new remarks on Marijuana in Illinois?
A non-profit organisation named New Leaf Illinois is providing taxpayer-funded legal assistance to have cannabis-related charges and convictions expunged from people’s records in Illinois.
Around $1.3 million in taxpayer money is used by New Leaf Illinois to work toward the eradication of cannabis arrests and convictions. According to the group’s website, there are 18 nonprofit groups in Illinois that provide anyone who wants their cannabis convictions expunged with free legal advice and representation.
Even though President Joe Biden released an executive order to release those with federal charges for simple marijuana possession, many more did not instantly fall off and needed to file a court petition.
The organisation New Leaf pledges to provide equitable justice to all those who have been detained or found guilty of “cannabis use, production, and sale.”
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What the New Leaf Illinois Supervising Attorney Patrick Honigmann has to say?
According to New Leaf Supervising Attorney Patrick Honigmann, “the programme itself, while it is cannabis-focused, the fact is, the other groups that we’re working with, the other partners for New Leaf, they’re truly trying to assist folks deal with their full criminal record.”
According to Honigmann, the removal of the arrest records automatically under Biden’s directive is only a partial solution. Both an arrest record and a court record exist.
“Accordingly, when you go to apply for a job, to rent property, to apply for a certain educational opportunity, or to acquire a handgun, when they perform these searches, the court records are what come up and they say, “Oh, you were arrested for cannabis,” States Honigmann. These records aren’t just having an impact on employment rather bear minimum influence in most of the areas.
Honigmann stated, “Someone had sought for a life insurance policy, and even though they had a small possession issue that was dropped, they were denied a life insurance policy and they claim it was purely because of that.
On its website, New Leaf claims to have sealed and erased 183 non-conviction marijuana records in addition to vaping and expunging 311 marijuana convictions.
Honigmann further says, “I see that as being a much larger form of assistance that they are giving people and that can be incredibly useful.”
