500,000 Illinois Marijuana Arrest Records Have Been Expunged

Illinois reached a milestone at the end of 2020, as Governor JB Pritzker announced that nearly 500,000 non-felony cannabis arrest records have been expunged by Illinois State Police. He also announced that he has pardoned 20,000+ convictions.
Per the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act of 2019, the state legalized marijuana and created a slew of remedies to help people previously impacted by convictions, arrests, and charges for marijuana use. One of these stipulations is that all records created between 2013 and 2019 be expunged by the start of 2025. ISP is officially 4 years ahead of schedule for these automatic expunctions. Though county clerks are still processing the expunctions at a local level, it is complete at the state level by ISP.

Speaking on the injustices that people of color have experienced by racist drug policies that disproportionately targeted minority communities, Governor Pritzker noted the following:

"We will never be able to fully remedy the depth of that damage. But we can govern with the courage to admit the mistakes of our past, and the decency to set a better path forward. I applaud the Prisoner Review Board, the Illinois State Police, and our partners across the state for their extraordinary efforts that allowed these pardons and expungements to become a reality."

Other states pale in comparison to the reparations Illinois has made to those whose lives have been upended by drug charges. They are on a mission to correct historic wrongdoings, and we're hopeful that other states will follow suit with automatic expunctions for substances that are now widely legalized.

If you have a small drug charge you think is hindering your success, Easy Expunctions can help. Sign up for a free background report so we can see what exactly is on your record, and what we may be able to eliminate using our record-clearing software.