A Missouri appeals court has ruled that the state must expunge convictions for THC possession, just as it has for marijuana possession cases under the voter-approved legalization law.
While a trial court previously maintained that there’s a legal distinction between THC and cannabis—with the support of state Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R)—the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District issued an opinion on Monday overturning that decision.
The appeals court said the law makes clear that marijuana and all of its constituents including THC were legalized for adults and, thus, prior possession of THC is covered under the expungements section.
The case at hand concerned a person who was pulled over by a state trooper in 2017 and faced two charges: possession of THC and possession of marijuana after they were found with cannabis plant material as well as what the court’s opinion described as “apothecanna cream” containing THC and “a bottle containing approximately one ounce of ‘Re-leaf’ brand” THC-laced liquid.
The person, who is being kept anonymous by the court, was convicted of both, and after the state enacted a legalization with expungement provisions, they petitioned for clemency. The Lafayette County prosecutor’s office expunged the cannabis conviction, but it denied relief for the THC conviction, arguing that fell outside of the scope of the law.
The appeals court disagreed, pointing out that the definition of “marijuana-infused products” that are legalized are “products that are infused, dipped, coated, sprayed, or mixed with marijuana or an extract thereof, including, but not limited to, products that are able to be vaporized or smoked, edible products, ingestible products, topical products, suppositories, and infused prerolls.” (Emphasis added.)
The trial could that previously handled the case was “incorrect” in its ruling, the higher court said, because “possession of small amounts of marijuana-derived THC are eligible for expungement under Amendment 3, as it constitutes a ‘resin extracted from the marijuana plant,’ and products made from it constitute ‘marijuana-infused products.’”
“The decision is a clear rebuke of Attorney General Bailey’s efforts to prevent expungement from taking place in as many cases as possible,” Dan Viets, a coordinator at Missouri NORML who serves on board chair of the national NORML, told KCTV. “The Western District Court cited the plain language of Article XIV in holding that the Missouri Constitution mandates that THC possession cases must be expunged in the same manner as marijuana possession cases.”
It’s unclear how many additional convictions for THC possession are eligible for expungement with this decision. Last December, Missouri officials announced they’d expunged more than 120,000 marijuana cases from court records during the first year of legalization. But some courts have missed the deadline for felony expungements as clerks work to review decades of old cases.
It was also reported in June that Missouri courts have only spent about 10 percent of the $7 million that were appropriated to fund the record-clearing process for cannabis.
Meanwhile, last month state officials transferred nearly $11 million in revenue from adult-use marijuana sales, routing the money toward veterans healthcare, legal assistance for low-income people and drug treatment and recovery services.
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