Marijuana legalization in Illinois came with grand plans for wiping clean many criminal records involving cannabis. That aspect of the law was so important that on the eve of legalization on Jan. 1, 2020, Gov. JB Pritzker pardoned more than 11,000 people of low-level marijuana convictions.
Yet more than 700,000 cases could qualify for expungement, a process in which police and court records of arrests and convictions are cleared. The process is crucial to giving people with such records a better chance at getting a job, an education and a place to live.
Now, almost one year after legalization took effect, few of those cannabis cases have been cleared. But officials say more expungements are on the way.