Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego will retroactively apply marijuana reforms

seattle mayor jenny durkan and seattle attorney general pete holmes will vacate misdemeanor marijuana-possession convictions prosecuted by the city prior to 2012. these reforms are expected to impact about 600 people.

durkan said these convictions disproportionately harm blacks, and create barriers to credit, education, housing and jobs. "while we cannot reverse all the harm that was done, we can give back to those people a record that says they were not convicted, because that is the more just thing to do," durkan said. she hopes county and state officials will follow suit.

two other cities have decided to retroactively apply marijuana reforms. in san francisco, district attorney george cascon will apply california's new marijuana legalization laws to misdemeanor and felony convictions going back to 1975. san diego will also clear or downgrade past misdemeanor marijuana and felony marijuana convictions.