Nearly 60,000 cannabis convictions in LA are about to get dismissed

LA County District Attorney George Gascon plans to dismiss almost 60,000 cannabis convictions. This is in addition to the 66,000 convictions that former DA Jackie Lacey expunged, which came from California’s Department of Justice. Gascon says his office found more by combing through LA County court records.

For people that have marijuana convictions, even after the state passed Prop 64, they have to contend with a lot of obstacles when it comes to their work and home lives.

“There are still barriers to housing, there are still barriers to employment if somebody decides that they want to do a check, there are still barriers to education,” says Felicia Carbajal.

Carbajal is the executive director of the Social Impact Center, an LA-based community center that, among other services, helps people with convictions go through the process of getting them dismissed from their records.

The impact of these expungements can be even bigger when you factor in the 5,000 barriers from the state of California, and the 48,000 nationally, according to Carbajal.

In order to get your record expunged, the person with the prior convictions can reach out to the District Attorney’s office or the Public Defender’s office or the Social Impact Center.