marijuana_joint_ap_605.jpg
Having a conviction on your record, even one for something as small as misdemeanor pot possession, can really put a lot of hurdles in your life that you'll have to get over.

Lawmaker wants to toss out Washington's misdemeanor pot convictions

BY Chris Sullivan  on February 20, 2013 @ 5:52 am (Updated: 8:16 am - 2/20/13 )

When voters legalized marijuana in November, prosecutors around the state started to throw out all the misdemeanor possession cases on their desks. That got one lawmaker thinking about all the misdemeanor possession convictions the state had racked-up and whether they should be tossed out too.

Having a conviction on your record, even one for something as small as misdemeanor pot possession, can really put a lot of hurdles in your life that you'll have to get over.

Now that marijuana possession is legal, state representative Joe Fitzgibbon thinks it's time to give those convicted of possession a chance to clear their records.

"Maybe we should find a way to help them start over so they don't have this conviction on their record every time they go to apply for a job, or for housing or for eduction," he said.

Fitzgibbon is sponsoring a bill in Olympia that would allow all misdemeanor pot possession convictions to be thrown out.

"Misdemeanor marijuana convictions are something that the people of Washington don't think should be a crime anymore," Rep. Fitzgibbon said. "This is about giving people a second chance. That's the state's interest."

All a person would have to do under Fitzgibbon's bill is go to a judge and ask for their conviction to be wiped from their record. It would work for those that were convicted and even those who pleaded guilty.

"There's thousands of people out there who this is going to impact in a positive way," said Fitzgibbon.

To give you a little perspective on how many people this would help, Fitzgibbon said there were more than 19,000 misdemeanor possession convictions in Washington in just the last five years.

Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter
Chris loves the rush of covering breaking news and works hard to try to make sense of it all while telling stories about real people in extraordinary circumstances.
More Local News
Top Stories
MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (33)


  • Add A Comment

  • Ernie in the East wrote...
    No body likes the consequences for their actions
    February 20, 2013 11:23 am
    No body likes the consequences for their actions and now some legislaturer is wasting time working on this law instead of actually working on the problems facing this state. I mean really, they are having a hard time finding a job? Well, they should have thought about that before they smoked that joint, shouldn't they? But no they didn't, were caught and convicted. Now the whiners and complainers are calling to have all those convictions dropped. Our actions, good and bad, have consequences, people. Live with them. We actually need to put our mind in gear and think about what we are doing and the resultant consequences before we do it. This would save us alot of heartache and grief later.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Moose Pilot wrote...
    Dido!
    February 20, 2013 12:00 pm
    If you are not willing to do the time, then don't commit the crime.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sohojo wrote...
    I'm Happy
    February 20, 2013 1:31 pm
    That marijuana is finally legal in this state. I do believe law enforcement has wasted preciuos dollars and resources enforcing the illegality of this drug. On the other hand, if you were busted while this drug was illegal you should be held to the letter of the law.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    If you are not willing to do the time, then don't commit the crime.
    February 20, 2013 1:45 pm
    weed is not a crime. So commit the crime. Don't do the time. U R 2 E Z
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cbrew wrote...
    I suppose what it boils down to is
    February 20, 2013 2:53 pm
    People who are so ignorant of what Marijuana is, and are so stupid that they actually believe it's a hard core drug they will be opposed to this, and people who live in the real world and know that many of our citizens do or have used Marijuana in their past will support this... Basically, You got the idiots that actually believe Pot is a terrible drug, even though Alcohol is 100 times worse, and you got people like myself who know that all sorts of people use pot or have used pot in the past and it's not a big deal, it's not worse than drinking I know because I've seen drunk people and i've seen people stoned, and I can tell you, it's a lot easier to deal with a stoned person than a drunk person, in fact, Alcohol kills people all the time it's much worse than Weed. if you're an employer should you be able to know if your employee has ever drank alcohol? It's just stupid, it was a stupid law in the first place and our citizens took the first step in eliminating the stupid prohibition of it and now we should recognize that those who were convicted of having weed on them in the past shouldn't be punished for a lifetime because they tried a drug weaker than alcohol in their youth. It makes zero sense... anybody that opposes this bill in my opinion is just ignorant of reality and stuck to ancient ideas of past generations particularly the Regan era folks that are stupid and racist anyways.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hpitantso wrote...
    Toss this in the forget me bin
    February 20, 2013 3:42 pm
    Unless they were driving automotive vehicle when cited quash it to save court time money
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Cash wrote...
    Just curious
    February 20, 2013 8:13 pm
    If anyone really believes there are people in prison for misdemeanor marijuana possession? I would guess the majority if not over 90% of those convicted did less than 1 day in jail... I am sorry but I am tired of people saying there are tons of people in prison for misdemeanor marijuana possession and that is simply not true. In King County the Prosecutor's Office stopped filing charges on 500 plant growing operations years ago and anyone who was caught with a dime bag gets a ticket and a court date. The punishment upon conviction is only 1 day for misdemeanor possession. Just saying...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Council_of_Logic wrote...
    Simple Logic
    February 20, 2013 11:11 pm
    The head of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Tom McBride needs to get a clue! Shame on you. This bill is meant for people who've had to deal with a misdemeanor charge because they merely possessed some small amounts of a plant, which is now legal in the state of Washington as well as Colorado. I have a misdemeanor from years back, even after I spent 3k on an attorney, because I possessed a nug of marijuana smaller than your thumb. That is a shame. Hypocrites like Tom McBride look the other way when millions in this country are dying because of cigarettes and alcohol, but when it comes to relatively harmless marijuana, they will try to trample any bill which gives honest people dealing with criminal misdemeanors a chance to clear their name. You either live in the past, or under a rock, if you honestly believe the money we waste of prosecuting pot couldn't be used for something FAR more important.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Ingenious discriminator?
    February 21, 2013 2:29 am
    Now when a person with an out of state conviction goes to apply for employment in state, the Washington applicant (clean record)gets hired! Take that you carpet bagging out of staters! (aka Californians)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }