Los Angeles County to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions

In a sweeping move, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Thursday that her office has asked the court to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions going back decades, CBS LA reported. In a news conference, Lacey called it the largest such undertaking in state history.

“We believe it is the largest effort in California to wipe out old criminal convictions in a single court motion,” she said.

Lacey said that when Proposition 64 passed in 2016 — which legalized marijuana in California — prosecutors across the state were tasked with reducing past marijuana convictions from felonies down to misdemeanors. However, she says her office decided to go even further.

“I’ve instructed by deputy district attorneys to ask the court to dismiss all eligible cannabis-related convictions,” Lacey said. “I also took the will of the voters one step further. I expanded the criteria to go above and beyond the parameters of the law to ensure that many more people will benefit from this historic moment in time.”

Those eligible include anyone 50 years of age or older, anyone who has not been convicted of a crime in the last 10 years, anyone with a conviction who successfully completed probation and anyone with a conviction under the age of 21. [Read more at CBS News]