NEW YORK - NY A coalition of over 20 organizations working at the intersection of the cannabis industry, racial equity, and reparative justice, will join local and community groups across the country for the inaugural National Expungement Week (N.E.W.) October 20-27, 2018. Conceived to aid those disenfranchised by the war on drugs, N.E.W. will offer free clinics to help to remove, seal, or reclassify eligible convictions from criminal records.
N.E.W. events will be held in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Haven, Philadelphia, Prince George’s County, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Organizers will also provide attendees with a varied (depending upon location) range of supportive services including employment resources, voter engagement, health screenings, and more. The N.E.W. website (www.offtherecord.us) also provides a link to an online toolkit so that interested parties can host their own record change events.
Organizers of N.E.W. events include Equity First Alliance, who recently released an open letter calling attention to patterns of inequity and injustice in the cannabis industry. Other participating organizations include Cage-Free Cannabis, Cage-Free Repair, Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council, California Cannabis Advocates, Tree Femme Collective, We BAKED, The Pot Lab, and Smart Pharm Research Group.
“Now that the plant is becoming legal, those who have gone to jail should be able to clear their record. The process for changing one’s record varies wildly state-by-state, but the need is universal. Considering America’s history of the war on drugs, the cannabis industry must bring justice and shared profits. As these expungement events become more common, we wanted to coordinate them to highlight the need for widespread and automated legal relief,” says Sonia Erika of Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council and a spokesperson for Equity First Alliance.
About National Expungement Week - October 20-27, 2018
National Expungement Week (N.E.W.) is a week of events across the U.S. that offers expungement and other forms of legal relief to some of the 77 million Americans with convictions on their records. These convictions can restrict access to housing, employment, education, public assistance, and voting rights long after sentences have been served. N.E.W. events will offer as many wraparound services as possible to restore people’s rights and lift up communities. For more information, please visit www.offtherecord.us
I don't usually do press releases but this is a big deal and very awesome. They'll have clinics in DC, Baltimore, and PG County. GT