Drug Registration

Will the remedy remove my registration requirement?

Your drug registration requirement will end automatically after 5 years.[3270] (The 5-year period starts when you are released from prison or jail, or when you are discharged from probation or parole.) In many cases, your registration requirement will end on its own, even before you clean up your record.

    Expungement—YES, this will remove your drug registration requirement.[3271]
    Getting your conviction expunged under California’s expungement statute will remove your requirement to register as a drug offender.
    Certificate of Rehabilitation—YES, this will remove your drug registration requirement.
    If you get a Certificate of Rehabilitation, you no longer have to register as a drug offender.[3272] However, most people have to wait more than 5 years before applying for a COR. By this time you will no longer have to register anyway.
    Pardon—YES, this will remove your drug registration requirement.
    BUT remember, a pardon is very difficult to get and granted only in “extraordinary circumstances.” Most people have to wait more than 5 years before applying for a pardon, by which time you will no longer have to register anyway.[3273]
  1. 3270

    Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11594.

  2. 3271

    Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11594; see also Cal. Penal Code § 1203.4.

  3. 3272

    Cal. Penal Code §§ 4852.17, 4852.19.

  4. 3273

    Cal. Penal Code § 4853; see also How to Apply for a Pardon, State of California Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., http://gov.ca.gov/docs/How_To_Apply_for_a_Pardon.pdf.