A State of Massachusetts House bill aimed at expunging the criminal records of those who have been arrested for marijuana use has garnered the support of the Somerville Board of Aldermen.

By Jim Clark

A resolution put forward at the latest regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen by Alderman At-Large Wilfred N. Mbah and Ward 1 Alderman Matthew McLaughlin expresses support for MA House Bill 2785, “An Act Relative to the Expungement of Records of Marijuana Arrests,” and requests that the state delegation vote in favor of it.

Speaking in favor of the resolution, Alderman Mbah said that along the lines of being fair and equitable as lawmakers, any time that legislation or bills are passed that treat people with fairness and justice they should align themselves accordingly.

Mbah singled out State Senator Patricia Jehlen in particular, praising her co-sponsorship of the bill, and urged the Somerville delegation to support passage of the bill.

Alderman McLaughlin added, “It’s a fortuitous day for this to come up as well because Northampton Massachusetts just opened their first recreational shop, and I was just reading that Mayor David Narkewicz was the first in line to purchase items at this recreational shop. So it’s interesting that we have a mayor of a city purchasing something that just a few years ago was illegal and he could have gone to jail for.”

McLaughlin further pointed out that the owners of the shop could also have had felony conviction charges brought against them if they opened a shop or sold marijuana under previous laws.

Alderman At-Large Wilfred N. Mbah called upon the state legislature to pass the bill that would clear the records of those arrested for possession of marijuana.

“So it’s really important to get the people who are the victims of the war on drugs, who have convictions which hurt their ability to get jobs,” McLaughlin said. “In the field that is now completely legal, we’d like to see those get expunged so that they can have clean records and that they can maybe someday become applicants in Somerville, Massachusetts, for recreational marijuana.”

The bill reads in part:

” Any person having a record of criminal court appearances and dispositions in the commonwealth on file with the office of the commissioner of probation, or the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services established by c. 6, sec. 167A et seq., for a marijuana offense as defined by c. 94C or other provisions of law committed before the enactment of c. 334 of the Acts of 2016, shall have all such records expunged forthwith from all criminal record information systems collected or distributed by any state agency, court or municipality. Any person with a criminal record eligible for expungement hereunder may apply to the commissioner, the department or the clerk of court where an expunged record exists, for expedited expungement in compliance with the provisions hereunder, and have the application acted on forthwith.”

Several aldermen signed on to the resolution which was subsequently passed by the Board.