In Houston, being charged with a misdemeanor for having marijuana in your possession can follow you around for decades. That one charge can impact your long-term ability to advance your career, find stable housing, and even secure loans or financial aid.
Local community leaders, organizations, and politicians are trying to change that.
Last Saturday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office hosted “Clean Slate Day,” an expunction clinic for local residents to clear their criminal record, in collaboration with Fallbrook Church. The event gave special attention to clearing the records of young people charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Local resident Rodney Boozer waited in a long line on Saturday for his opportunity to access legal resources.
“Clean Slate Day gives people an opportunity that have made mistakes when they were younger,” said Boozer. “It gives them a chance to be able to clear that up when it comes to jobs and how they live their life. They just get a second look so that they can start over.”
While this is the first time the DA’s office has been involved in the program, Fallbrook Church has been hosting expunction clinics for over a decade, calling them the “Second Chance Fair.” Alvin Nunnery, a criminal defense lawyer and member of Fallbrook, has been helping to organize the event since their inception.
“When we first did this program 14 years ago, we had over 2,000 people show up,” said Nunnery. “To me, that was a message that contrary to popular opinion, there are people who’ve made mistakes who do want to get on with their lives. A lot of people believe, ‘well, that’s just who they are and that’s where they belong.’ But I just firmly reject that, both from a moral standpoint and, quite frankly, from a legal one. I think our community can do better.”
This year, the DA’s office hosted the event with support from Fallbrook Church and partner organizations including Lone Star College, Houston Metro, and Workforce Solutions. A number of trade schools were also there to share literacy, job, and education opportunities.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare and Texas state Sen. Molly Cook (D-15) were also there to speak about the gathering’s significance.
“This is such a critical component to public safety as a whole,” said Teare. “Giving people second chances, taking off the barriers for them to be successful is the only way that we’re gonna get out of the prison cycle that happens all the time. So, when people are eligible, setting up days like this to get them back into society and being productive members will make us all safer in the end.”
The clinic took place amid a recent record spike of marijuana arrests in Harris County. Arrests have increased by 1,200% under Mayor John Whitmire’s administration, with Houston police averaging about 440 arrests per year.
Whitmire has blamed Teare for the increase. The district attorney, however, pointed out that his office has seen cases decline since he took office, and that arrests are unavoidable until broader changes to state and federal drug laws happen.
“We’re never going to be at zero for these cases,” said Teare. “But we have been steadily going down since I took office. The highest since the pandemic was in 2024, before I took office. So, yes, we are the ones that accept the cases. But at the end of the day, until our state legislature and the federal government get serious about this, tragically, it’s never going to be zero.”
Meanwhile, federal and state lawmakers this summer reclassified most hemp-derived THC products as Schedule 1 drugs, putting them in the same category as heroin and ecstasy. As a result, the possession of some previously legal items like gummies and vapes can now be charged as felony cases that can lead to jail time.
Against that backdrop, local initiatives like Clean Slate Day are trying to undo some of the harm caused by what Teare calls “draconian enforcement of drug laws.”
“I hope the Houstonians who are here today see a government that’s working for them and that cares about them,” said Sen. Cook. “And that they leave with next steps for their lives to improve their own positions and give them power over their own health and safety.”
