Cannabis Expungement: Progress, Gaps, and the 40,000 Still Behind Bars
Legal states have expunged millions of cannabis convictions, but tens of thousands of people remain incarcerated for cannabis offenses. Here's where expungement stands in 2025.
Marcus Williams
Policy & Advocacy Editor, Cannabis Dispensary
When states legalize cannabis, they often include provisions to expunge or seal prior cannabis convictions — recognizing that people should not continue to suffer the consequences of conduct that is now legal. By 2025, legal states have expunged or sealed millions of cannabis records. But the work is far from complete.
The Scale of the Problem
According to the Last Prisoner Project, approximately 40,000 people remain incarcerated in the United States for cannabis offenses as of 2025. Millions more have cannabis convictions on their records that affect employment, housing, education, and voting rights. The burden falls disproportionately on Black and Latino communities.
State-by-State Progress
Illinois has one of the most comprehensive expungement programs, automatically expunging over 500,000 cannabis records since legalization in 2020. California has expunged over 100,000 records but the process has been slow and incomplete. New York has expunged records for possession offenses but not sales offenses. Many states with medical-only programs have no expungement provisions at all.
Automatic vs. Petition-Based Expungement
The most effective expungement programs are automatic — the state proactively identifies and clears eligible records without requiring individuals to file petitions. Petition-based systems, which require individuals to navigate the court system, reach far fewer people. Advocates are pushing for automatic expungement in all legal states.
Federal Expungement
Federal cannabis convictions cannot be expunged under current law. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which would federally legalize cannabis, includes federal expungement provisions. Until federal legalization, people with federal cannabis convictions have no path to expungement.
The Economic Argument
Beyond justice, expungement has economic benefits. A cannabis conviction can prevent someone from working in the legal cannabis industry — the very industry that replaced the illicit market they were convicted for participating in. Expungement removes this barrier and allows affected individuals to participate in the legal economy.