In response, the nonprofit Arizona NORML set up an erasure clinic outside a smoke shop on Grand Avenue. they were waiting Romeri recalls that the turnout was overwhelming.

“I mean, people passed by, but nothing,” he said. “It didn’t bite me.”

Romeli himself is not employed by NORML. He has a cannabis growing business in Tucson. However, he wanted to help people whose criminal record might be hindering their ability to find work.

“They are at a loss. They don’t know what to do,” Romeli said. “Why don’t you want to help these people?”

And the turnout in the court system seems to have been similarly low. Since the law went into effect, eight people have filed an expungement petition in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

The Nogales Court of Justice does not provide the number of petitions filed there.

Once your criminal record is expunged, it becomes private. After expungement, only two people, the accused person and her attorney, have legal access to the conviction or indictment.

In other words, no criminal charges or convictions appear during background checks for housing, employment, or other resources.

Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Liliana Ortega said, “Obtaining records can be useful when applying for housing, applying for scholarships to schools, or applying for certification for certain business licenses. you can help someone

So far, Ortega has overseen expungement petitions in superior courts dealing with felony-level cases. As she pointed out, applicants are subject to expungement if the arrest falls under certain parameters.

Expungement applies only to individuals in possession of marijuana for personal use. This individual had to be arrested for possessing 2.5 ounces or less of cannabis. If you are found in possession of marijuana plants, you must have no more than six plants in your personal possession to be eligible for expungement.

Of the eight takedown petitions that reached Ortega’s desk, she said four were approved.

Ortega said the other four were dismissed because they didn’t meet the qualifications under state law.

“They were convicted of drug smuggling,” she said.

People charged with or convicted of low-level personal-use marijuana offenses are more likely to have their cases handled at the misdemeanor court level. Magistrate Emilio Velázquez did not respond to a request for an interview regarding this article.

In 2011, Border Patrol agents found an abandoned Toyota Camry behind the Nogales War Memorial Park. Inside he had over 230 pounds of marijuana. Police eventually tracked the vehicle down to his 19-year-old man, according to a Santa Cruz County Superior Court pre-sentence report.

The man told police he had loaned the car to three friends. They had promised him $1,000 if they could use the vehicle to transport cannabis.

In follow-up interviews, the man also said his father had recently been arrested and had agreed to lend his car to help his mother financially.

A man pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting the illegal transport of marijuana for the sale – a class 4 felony. He was sentenced to six months in prison and served three years of probation.

Such cases are not subject to cancellation under Arizona law for several reasons. Arizona NORML attorney and deputy co-director Jonathan Udell noted that local residents stopped by the expungement clinic with similar cases.

Some had expressed interest in having their records expunged, but were unable to qualify because they were in possession of large amounts of marijuana at the time of their arrest.

“They had an offense that was too big to qualify,” added Udel.

Also, having grown up in Nogales, Romeli was aware of the potential high conviction rates for large-scale marijuana offenses. I described a friend who was arrested a few years ago.

“It’s a huge amount,” Romeli said. “We’re a border town. Here (a) on a larger scale. Not for personal use,” he said.

erasure experiment

When the law took effect last summer, Arizona NORML organized dozens of free erasure clinics and traveled with attorneys on staff to communities like Showlow, Bisbee, and Mesa. At times, the turnout was spectacular. At Show Low, there was a line out the door, he recalls, Udell.

But in Nogales, he said, not so much.

“Traffic was pretty light,” Udell recalls.

Even organizing a clinic was difficult. Lomeri said it was difficult to find the location.

“We went to some places, and some places rejected me,” recalls Romeli. “Because they said, ‘We’re not. We don’t want to deal with marijuana.'”

The last event was held in the parking lot of a tobacco shop.

According to Udell, another common barrier to expungement can be a lack of awareness about the new law. There is no relevant information.

Udell said adding that information would be a “great start.”

Speaking to NI, Romeri expressed frustration at the opposition he received when he tried to hold a workshop. According to him, the clinic was not promoting marijuana use, it was simply eradicating it.

“That’s not what we’re trying to do,” Lomeli pointed out. “We are actually trying to help people who have been convicted.”

Expungement can also be applied to persons who have not been convicted. For example, if a person is arrested and the case is ultimately dismissed, the arrest may appear in Background His Checks.

It’s not entirely clear how many people in Santa Cruz County will be eligible for the new expungement opportunities, other than the four whose petitions were approved. There is no public database that tracks arrests within the county specifically related to small amounts of marijuana.

But Udell, who was arrested for marijuana possession in 2011 and 2012, says even helping even one of his clients get killed makes a difference.

He said he sometimes sees clients leave the expungement clinic in tears, relieved that their criminal record is gone.

“And now they’re taking this huge burden off[their]shoulders,” he added.