Free Expungement Resources

Last verified: April 2026

Last Prisoner Project

Founded in 2019 by Steve DeAngelo, Andrew DeAngelo, and Dean Raise, the Last Prisoner Project has become the most visible organization fighting for cannabis prisoners and expungement. Their record speaks for itself: 400+ years of incarceration saved, 250,000+ offenses cleared, and $3.8 million directed toward legal services and reentry support.

Acting Executive Director Stephanie Shepard brings lived experience to the work — she served a 10-year federal sentence for a cannabis offense. The organization's highest-profile cases include Richard DeLisi, who served 32 years of a 90-year Florida sentence, and Michael Thompson, who served 25 years in Michigan for selling 3 pounds of cannabis.

Visit lastprisonerproject.org to request help or support their work.

Code for America / Clear My Record

Founded by Jennifer Pahlka, Code for America built Clear My Record — a technology platform that processes criminal records at a scale no human team could match: 10,000 records per minute. The system has cleared 144,000 records in California alone and expanded to Cook County, Illinois.

The Clean Slate Initiative, which grew out of this work, now operates as a national steering committee pushing automatic expungement legislation in every state. Their model has been adopted in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Utah, and other states.

NORML Legal Committee

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws maintains a network of 500+ attorneys who specialize in cannabis-related legal matters, including expungement. The directory at lawyers.norml.org is searchable by state and allows you to find attorneys experienced with your specific situation.

NORML membership for the legal committee is $300 per year for private attorneys and $150 for public defenders, which means these are attorneys who have specifically invested in cannabis law expertise. Many offer free initial consultations for expungement cases.

National Expungement Works

Founded by LaTorie Marshall in 2018, National Expungement Works has grown from a single event into a national force: 70+ expungement events, 4,300+ people directly served, and an estimated $10 million in saved legal costs. Their events bring together volunteer attorneys, court clerks, and technology partners to process petitions on the spot.

Cannabis Industry Programs

Several cannabis companies fund expungement work as part of their social equity commitments:

• Verano Holdings — $50,000 plus matching funds deployed at 100 dispensary locations for expungement clinics
• Glass House Brands — $25,000 committed. CEO Kyle Kazan, a former police officer, founded the REEFORM brand specifically to fund record-clearing work.
• Ascend Wellness — $65,000+ directed to expungement legal services across their operating states
• Ayr Wellness — 200+ individuals helped through direct legal assistance partnerships

Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM), led by Roz McCarthy, runs Project Clean Slate across 27 states — organizing free expungement clinics in partnership with cannabis companies and legal aid organizations.

State-Specific Free Resources

Illinois

The New Leaf Illinois hotline (855-963-9532) connects callers with a network of 18–20 nonprofit legal providers offering free cannabis expungement help. In Chicago, Cabrini Green Legal Aid operates out of the Daley Center, Room 1006, and handles walk-in expungement consultations.

California

Code for America's Clear My Record handles automatic Prop 64 relief. Community Legal Aid SoCal provides free petition assistance in Southern California. The Xpungd partnership with Angeles Emeralds offers industry-funded legal help in Los Angeles.

New Jersey

The state judiciary website njcourts.gov provides standardized expungement forms and instructions. Legal Services of New Jersey (lsnjlaw.org) offers free eligibility screening and legal representation for qualifying individuals.

New York

The Office of Cannabis Management at cannabis.ny.gov handles MRTA automatic expungement inquiries. The Attorney General's office also provides expungement assistance resources for records not covered by automatic relief.

Arizona

The Reclaim Your Future program provides free legal assistance for Prop 207 set-aside petitions. The University of Arizona Civil Rights Restoration Clinic offers law-student-supervised expungement help at no cost.