“It’s too complicated”: The state of cannabis record expungement in Illinois

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Illinois legalized recreational use of marijuana five years ago, it came with a goal to right the wrongs of the war on drugs. “We’re addressing the past harms of discriminatory prosecution of drug laws,” Governor J.B. Pritzker said at the time. Many low level cannabis charges would automatically be expunged and legal aid would be made available. Last episode, we looked at two areas where the state spent the largest share of its $500 million in marijuana sales tax revenue: the state budget and R3 funding, a program to invest in communities that have been harmed by violence, excessive incarceration and economic disinvestment. Some of that sales tax revenue also goes toward social programs, like legal aid for cannabis record expungement. Today, we’re looking at how well Illinois’ expungement program is working. Advocates and people getting their records expunged tell us that “automatic” doesn’t apply to everything and the process itself is “too complicated.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you're already a WBEZ member, thank you.
0:04.0	Right now, you have the power to do even more.
0:07.0	If every high fidelity member increase their monthly gift by just $3 or more,
0:11.0	together we could fully replace the $3 million in federal funding that's currently at risk.
0:17.0	Your increased support will help offset that potential loss and keep this people-powered newsroom thriving for years.
0:23.5	Start or increase your monthly gift by $3 today at WBEZ.org slash donate.
0:30.6	What's up, Chicago? I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.
0:35.1	Cannabis law in Illinois turned five years old this year. When it originally went to
0:40.2	effect, the state made a lot of plans for the revenue from cannabis sales. Last episode, we got
0:46.1	into where some of those funds are going. We're addressing the past harms of discriminatory
0:50.6	prosecution of drug laws. Today, we're looking at criminal record expungement for folks
0:55.2	with cannabis offenses. The war on cannabis has destroyed families. It has filled jails and prisons
1:02.1	with nonviolent offenders. It has disproportionately affected black and brown communities.
1:07.7	This is Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2019, speaking the day before
1:12.2	cannabis became legal in the state. But today, here in Illinois, we can govern with the courage
1:19.2	to right the wrongs of the past. Because today, we're clearing 11,017 convictions for Illinoisans across 92 counties.
1:30.3	Yeah, the Cannabis Expungement Fund was propped up as one of the great pillars of legalizing
1:35.8	cannabis in Illinois.
1:38.6	And it does sound great, but there's a difference between vision and implementation. So today, we're looking at cannabis record expungement.
1:47.1	How does it work?
1:48.4	And how is it going?
1:51.3	We asked a few different people about the process who are actually living it,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBEZ Chicago, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WBEZ Chicago and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.