Cleary Gottlieb represented a New York mayoral task force on the legalization of cannabis in preparing a report and recommendations released on December 20, 2018.
The task force was not designed to take a position for or against legalization, but instead to consider how any legalization regime should be structured. A key recommendation was a call for automatic expungement of all prior criminal records upon legalization of identical conduct. No other state has adopted this measure, but the task force believed that the significant burdens attendant on a criminal record (including exclusion from many jobs, government benefits, and public housing), and the history of significantly disparate enforcement of cannabis laws, made it appropriate.
To access the report click here.
View the press coverage on the matter here.