Illinois Turning a New Leaf
First Defense Legal Aid is currently a grantee and partner of New Leaf Illinois, a state-funded cohort of 20 nonprofit organizations providing legal information and legal aid to people who want to remove cannabis-related charges on their record. Since the legalization of marijuana in 2019, organizations have been working together towards providing Illinoisans with the free legal aid needed to expunge and seal past marijuana records, and the partnership created state-wide under New Leaf is a huge step in the fight against the consequences of the war on drugs, which created unjust legal circumstances for many communities of color and the economically disenfranchised.
Beth Johnson, a partner at Rights & Restoration Law Group, was interviewed by the Chicago Reader about the work of New Leaf Illinois and the impact is has had on Chicago communities. Beth explains the reasoning behind New Leaf and having the access to legal aid for cannabis convictions be streamlined within one network:
“The process and eligibility [of seeking expungement] can be confusing, and the goal of the coordinated network is to have one place for people to work through the initial steps. New Leaf recognizes people can come with other arrests and convictions—and the legal aid organizations that are part of New Leaf can help with expungement and sealing of other records.”
By coordinating legal aid efforts among the current New Leaf cohort, it makes it easier for Illinoisans to access legal aid from one singular spot— the New Leaf Illinois website. FDLA’s role in the process is just to expand the knowledge of the program to as many people as we can reach. Many Chicagoans with marijuana convictions don’t even know there is a state-funded process underway to help them get those charges removed, so we have incorporated New Leaf information into our ongoing outreach and legal education efforts to get the word out.
If you or someone you know are in need of legal aid in relation to a cannabis record, visit https://newleafillinois.org/s
Read the full interview with Beth Johnson here.