It’s not every day a prosecutor’s office helps take a charge off someone’s record.
But for people with low-level marijuana charges on their records, that’s exactly what the Pima County Attorney’s Office, with an assist from Ward 1 City council member Lane Santa Cruz, is offering through a clinic Thursday.
“I am eager to host these marijuana clinics to bridge barriers and support the dismantling of a structural inequity,” Santa Cruz said in a prepared statement.
The clinic will be free. Santa Cruz’s Ward 1 office, at 940 W. Alameda St., will host the event from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, July 29.
“What we want to do is meet people where they are, rather than just put (information) on social media and on our website,” said Joe Watson, communications director for the County Attorney’s Office.
With the passage of Proposition 207 last November, Arizonans convicted of low-level marijuana possession, cultivation and paraphernalia offenses are now eligible to petition the appropriate court to expunge those records.
Watson said the clinic will be similar in set-up to those put on earlier in the month by nonprofit organizations including Arizona’s branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (or NORML).
Staff from both PCAO and Ward 1 will be on hand to assist anyone with questions and in fillng out the necessary paperwork, although almost everything will be done on tablets and computers, Watson pointed out.
The big difference between this clinic and others, though, is it will be closed to media and anyone not part of PCAO and Ward 1 staff.
That’s to protect the privacy of anyone looking to apply for expungement, due to the stigma that already surrounds marijuana-related charges and convictions, and to prevent a further record for people who may have already faced hardship because of their criminal record, Watson said.
“It just makes sense that people who want their records expunged don’t want a separate media record created of their conviction,” he said.
Santa Cruz alluded to how a marijuana charge or conviction can hit Black, Indigenous and other people of color and their communities the hardest.
“A criminal record is a burden ... that makes it harder to find work, harder to find housing, and impossible to receive financial aid for college,” Santa Cruz’s statement said.
Anyone looking to attend should be sure to bring related paperwork and court documents or arrest records with them, Watson said. It also helps to make sure the case is in Pima County, and not somewhere else. Expungement petitions can be filed only in the prosecuting jurisdiction.
“If folks don’t have that information, we can still help them submit the information,” Watson said. “But it will expedite the process overall if folks have that information.”
Ultimately, this clinic figures to be the first of many put on by PCAO. Watson said plans are in the works to partner with other ward offices and with county supervisors.
“The authors of Proposition 207 did a great job with the language to legalize marijuana and to make sure that expungement was in there,” he said. “We just have not done a great job letting everybody know the details of the expungement process.”
