San Francisco is wiping clean decades of misdemeanor marijuana-related convictions

The city of San Francisco is erasing thousands of marijuana-related convictions by retroactively applying California's legalization laws, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. While anyone with a marijuana conviction in California can petition a court to dismiss their case, per the state's Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana use in 2016, District Attorney George Gascón said Wednesday that the city will simply review the cases en masse.

As a result, more than 3,000 misdemeanor cases stretching back to 1975 are being dismissed, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Thousands of other felony cases will additionally be reviewed.

To date, some 5,000 people in the state have petitioned courts to dismiss their marijuana convictions.

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