‘Justice Is Still Being Denied’ To People With Past Marijuana Convictions As Legalization Spreads, Review By Advocacy Group Says

State legislatures considered a number of criminal justice reform bills
around marijuana this year, but most ultimately failed to make it across
the finish line—a trend advocates at the nonprofit Last Prisoner Project
(LPP) are calling the “hidden crisis in cannabis reform.”

“Across the country, state legislatures introduced more than a dozen bills
aimed at righting the wrongs of cannabis criminalization. But most of them
died quietly,” the organization says. “This is the untold story of cannabis
reform in 2025: legalization is advancing, but justice is still being
denied. People are profiting off an industry that others are still being
punished for—and many statehouses are failing to act.”

In Florida, Georgia, Alaska and Missouri, for example, bills to seal past
criminal cannabis records and expedite the release of people incarcerated
on marijuana offenses fell short, says the review by LPP. Similarly,
longtime efforts to expunge cannabis convictions in Massachusetts and New
York also failed to move forward.

Virginia lawmakers, meanwhile, passed a resentencing bill that would have
lightened marijuana penalties retroactively, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R),
who’s scuttled numerous drug reform bills during his time in office,
ultimately vetoed the measure.

“While public support for expungement and release is stronger than ever,
political action has largely stalled,” LPP’s director of policy, Adrian
Rocha, said in a statement to Marijuana Moment. “We’ve seen dozens of bills
introduced this year that would have provided meaningful relief, but many
were quietly buried without so much as a hearing.”

“We can’t celebrate a legal cannabis industry while thousands still live
with the weight of criminal records, or remain behind bars, for doing
something that is now perfectly legal,” he added. “If lawmakers are serious
about equity, it’s time to stop delaying and start delivering on the
promises of cannabis justice.”

But it’s not all bad news, Rocha said, pointing to examples of “bright
spots that prove what’s possible when advocates, lawmakers, and communities
come together.”

“In Maryland and Hawai’i,” for example, he said, “we witnessed landmark
victories that expand access to record relief and demonstrate how cannabis
justice can be implemented effectively.”

In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed a series of cannabis bills into law
in April, including one to require state officials to automatically shield
records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from
public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for
certain other offenses.

“I want to be very clear: This is not about letting criminals or repeat
offenders off the hook. It’s about common sense,” Moore said at the time.
“The people who will be helped out by this reform are our neighbors and our
parents, even people in our congregation. They’re people who just want to
move forward but keep hitting a wall made of paperwork.”

Heather Warnken, executive director of the University of Baltimore School
of Law’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform, said that people in Maryland
had been “living with the unconscionable reality that any probation
violation, from a missed appointment to even decades-old possession of
small amounts of now legal cannabis, categorically barred them from ever
expunging their record.”

“The Expungement Reform Act has addressed this and more, removing barriers
to opportunity for thousands held back by their past record,” she
continued. “Like Gov. Moore’s historic mass pardon, this victory is the
product of true partnership, and an incredible step forward for our state.”

Last June, Moore pardoned more than 175,000 convictions for low-level
marijuana and paraphernalia offenses—a sweeping clemency action granted
about a year after the state implemented cannabis legalization. This month,
he also issued another mass pardon for people with past marijuana
possession convictions, granting clemency to about 7,000 more people on the
holiday Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery.

In Hawaii this session, meanwhile, lawmakers enacted a new law to help
speed the expungement process for people hoping to clear their records of
past marijuana-related offenses. The law aims to expedite expungements
happening through a pilot program that became law last year.

“I believe Hawai’i has an obligation to ensure that individuals who
continue to suffer the consequences of an outdated law have an opportunity
to finally move on with their lives,” Rep. David Tarnas (D), the bill’s
sponsor, said in a comment to Marijuana Moment. “This bill will eliminate
the need for extensive manual searches and ensure that more people receive
the relief they deserve without unnecessary delays.”

“It’s time to stop punishing people for conduct that’s no longer considered
a crime,” he said, “and start restoring their dignity and providing them
with opportunities.”

In Maine and Minnesota, LPP noted, criminal justice reform bills are “still
in play—but the path to passage remains uncertain.”

Advocates also pointed to Texas, where lawmakers both passed a measure to
expand medical marijuana as well as a widespread ban on hemp products
containing any detectable amount of THC.

It remains to be seen whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) will sign the hemp
ban legislation.

“The scales of justice in Texas are at a tipping point, but which direction
they will tip is still up in the air,” said Jeannette McKenzie, board
member and director of the Texas Cannabis Collective. “It’s hard to
celebrate expanded medical access when we’re simultaneously expanding
criminalization for the same plant.”

“People want and deserve the freedom to use and enjoy cannabis on their own
terms free from tyrannical government prosecution,” she added.

Last Prisoner Project has long pushed for legalization of cannabis to
include measures meant to address past drug war harms. In May, the group
organized a coalition of marijuana reform advocates that held an event
outside the White House to urge President Donald Trump to free those still
incarcerated over cannabis.

The rally was part of a “Cannabis Unity Week of Action” helmed by LPP that
also involved congressional lawmakers who’ve spoken about their own efforts
to advance reform on Capitol Hill. It featured multiple speakers who shared
stories about their personal experiences with the criminal justice system
and their advocacy work, making the case to the administration that now is
the time to put a definitive end to marijuana criminalization.

At the federal level, Trump is facing pressure on multiple fronts to
fulfill campaign pledges and expand on cannabis clemency that has been
achieved under his first time, as well as under the Biden administration.
And in many cases, it’s those who’ve been directly impacted by
criminalization who are leading the charge.

In April, for example, an activist who received a pardon for a
marijuana-related conviction during Trump’s first term paid a visit to the
White House, discussing future clemency options with the recently appointed
“pardon czar.”

Other former marijuana prisoners who received clemency from Trump during
his first term in office staged a separate event outside the White House
last month, expressing gratitude for the relief they were given and calling
on the new administration to grant the same kind of help to others who are
still behind bars for cannabis.

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The post ‘Justice Is Still Being Denied’ To People With Past Marijuana
Convictions As Legalization Spreads, Review By Advocacy Group Says appeared
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