Marijuana Expungement vs Sealing in Arizona: Why a Sale Changes the Tool

You were convicted of selling marijuana, or of holding it for sale, back when Arizona treated every gram as a felony. Now you keep reading about Prop 207 expungement and wonder why no lawyer will file one for you. The answer sits in one short list inside the law, and it changes which tool clears your record.

We file marijuana expungements, sealing applications and set asides in Arizona courts every week. AZ Record Removal is owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law, and a sale conviction is a case we know how to clear.

Why does a marijuana sale conviction not qualify for expungement in Arizona?

Because A.R.S. § 36-2862 names three acts, and selling is not one of them. The expungement law written by Prop 207 covers possessing, consuming or transporting two and one-half ounces or less of marijuana, growing no more than six plants at your home for personal use, and possessing or using marijuana paraphernalia. Read the list yourself in A.R.S. § 36-2862. Sale, transport for sale and possession for sale are absent on purpose. Voters legalized personal use. They left the old market alone.

A judge reading your petition under A.R.S. § 36-2862 looks at the offense on the judgment. If it says possession for sale or sale, the prosecutor objects, and the label decides it. The amount does not rescue the filing. A sale of one ounce is still a sale.

That is the whole reason the tool changes. Expungement is closed to a sale conviction. Sealing and a set aside are open, and both work.

How does Arizona classify a marijuana sale conviction?

By the act and by the weight, under A.R.S. § 13-3405. The section lists four acts: possession or use, possession for sale, production, and transport for sale, sale or transfer. Each act carries a felony class tied to the weight involved. The full text of A.R.S. § 13-3405 has the complete grid. The rows a sale case turns on look like this.

Act on the judgment	Weight	Felony class
Possession for sale	Under 2 pounds	Class 4
Possession for sale	2 to 4 pounds	Class 3
Possession for sale	Over 4 pounds	Class 2
Sale or transport for sale	Under 2 pounds	Class 3
Sale or transport for sale	2 pounds or more	Class 2
Production	Under 2 pounds	Class 5

Your felony class matters more than the word sale does. The class sets your sealing wait, and it tells us whether a set aside carries the load in the years before sealing opens. Find the class on your judgment before you call anyone.

What tool clears a marijuana sale conviction instead of expungement?

Sealing under A.R.S. § 13-911. Arizona rewrote its sealing law through SB 1639, effective September 13, 2024, and as of 2026 the sealing law reaches almost every conviction on Arizona’s books. The exclusions cover dangerous offenses, dangerous crimes against children, serious, violent or aggravated felonies, sex trafficking and most sex offenses. A marijuana sale conviction sits on none of those lists. Read the section at A.R.S. § 13-911.

Sealing takes the public court record out of view. The clerk, the arresting agency and the Department of Public Safety mark the case sealed, and a standard background check stops reporting it. On most job and housing applications you are allowed to answer that you were never arrested, charged or convicted. Sealing does not touch a Google result, an old news story or a mugshot site. Those need separate takedown work.

Our record sealing service page lists what the filing includes and what we need from you.

How long do you wait to seal a marijuana sale conviction?

Five years for a class 4 felony and ten years for a class 2 or class 3 felony. A.R.S. § 13-911 starts the clock the day you finish every term of the sentence, including probation, prison, fines, fees and restitution. A new conviction during the wait restarts it.

Plug your class in. Possession for sale under two pounds is a class 4 felony, so the wait is five years. Sale or transport for sale at any weight is a class 3 or class 2 felony, so the wait is ten. The exact words on the judgment set the timeline.

Expungement under A.R.S. § 36-2862 has no waiting period at all, and losing that is the real cost of a sale conviction. A dismissed sale count, or a not guilty verdict on one, has no waiting period for sealing either. It qualifies for a sealing application the day the case closes.

Our county by county report on how long record sealing takes in Arizona shows what happens after you file.

Does a set aside help a marijuana sale case?

Yes, and it is available the day the judge discharges you from your sentence. A.R.S. § 13-905 lets a person convicted of a criminal offense apply to set aside the judgment of guilt once the sentence is complete. No waiting period follows discharge, and A.R.S. § 13-905(B) bars the clerk from charging a filing fee. The law shuts out dangerous offenses, sex offenses and felonies with a victim under fifteen. A marijuana sale conviction is none of those.

A granted set aside dismisses the charge and releases you from the penalties and disabilities of the conviction. Under A.R.S. § 13-905(O), the order also restores your right to possess a firearm unless the conviction was a serious offense, and a marijuana sale is not. The record stays public. Anyone who pulls it sees the conviction and, on the next line, the order setting it aside. The set aside service page lists what the order covers.

For a sale conviction, the set aside is step one and sealing is step two. We file the set aside as soon as you qualify, then file the sealing the month the wait ends.

How does an expunged marijuana case differ from a sealed one?

An expungement vacates the conviction and lets you deny the arrest with almost no exceptions. Sealing hides the record and leaves the conviction in place under the seal. Here are the three tools side by side for a marijuana case.

	Expungement, A.R.S. § 36-2862	Sealing, A.R.S. § 13-911	Set aside, A.R.S. § 13-905
Cases covered	Possession of 2.5 ounces or less, six plants at home, paraphernalia	Most convictions, dismissals and arrests, sale included	Most convictions, sale included
Waiting period	None	5 years for a class 4 to 6 felony, 10 years for a class 2 or 3 felony	None after discharge
Public court record	Sealed, open only to you and your lawyer	Sealed from public view	Stays public with the order noted
What you say on a form	Never arrested, charged or convicted	Never arrested, charged or convicted, with listed exceptions	Convicted, then set aside
Firearm rights	Restored by the order	Not addressed	Restored under A.R.S. § 13-905(O), serious offenses excluded
Who carries the burden	The prosecutor, by clear and convincing evidence	You, at the judge’s discretion	You, at the judge’s discretion

Two rows drive the plan on a sale case. Expungement is granted unless the prosecutor proves you ineligible, while sealing and a set aside rest on the judge’s discretion. Only the set aside restores firearm rights on a sale conviction. Our broader guide to expungement vs sealing in Arizona covers the rest.

What if you pled a sale charge down to possession?

Then the conviction on the judgment controls, and you might qualify for expungement after all. Many sale arrests ended in a plea to simple possession or attempted possession. If the judgment reads possession of marijuana and the weight was two and one-half ounces or less, A.R.S. § 36-2862 covers it. An arrest report that says sale does not undo a plea to possession. Our marijuana expungement service page covers that filing.

Pull the judgment before you decide anything. The charge name, the subsection and the felony class all appear on it. Our guide to finding your Arizona criminal record shows where to look, and we read the judgment with you before you pay us a dollar.

If the weight was over two and one-half ounces, expungement closes again, and a plea to an undesignated class 6 felony opens a third tool. A.R.S. § 13-604 lets the judge designate that offense a class 1 misdemeanor, which drops the sealing wait from five years to three. See how designating a felony to a misdemeanor fits alongside sealing.

What if your case has a possession count and a sale count?

Each count gets its own tool, and the sale count sets the pace. A.R.S. § 36-2862 expunges the arrest, charge and conviction for a covered act. In a two count case with paraphernalia on count two and possession for sale on count one, the paraphernalia count comes off through expungement today. The sale count stays until a set aside and, later, a sealing order deal with it.

The case stays visible to the public until the last count is sealed. We say this on the first call so nobody expects the expungement alone to hide the case.

Filing the expungement first still helps. It removes one conviction from the record the judge weighs later, and A.R.S. § 13-905 lists prior and later convictions among the factors on a set aside. A cleaner file in front of the judge is the point of the sequence.

What does a sealed marijuana sale case look like to an employer?

Nothing, on a standard background check. Once the seal takes effect, the public court index, the clerk’s file and the public DPS record stop showing the case. A.R.S. § 13-911 lets you state you were never arrested, charged or convicted, with exceptions for law enforcement jobs, fingerprint clearance cards and a short list of licensed roles. Our post on when background checks still show a sealed record walks through who keeps access.

Two timing rules matter. After a grant, the court holds the record for 60 days before the seal takes effect. A denial bars a new filing for three years, so the first application has to be complete and filed after the wait runs out, never before. A premature filing risks a denial and the three year bar.

Has a judge sealed a felony marijuana case for AZ Record Removal?

Yes, more than once. Judges in Coconino County and Maricopa County granted sealing applications we filed on felony marijuana convictions under A.R.S. § 13-911, and a Maricopa County judge granted a marijuana set aside with firearm rights restored. Each of those files started the same way, with the judgment read against the three acts in A.R.S. § 36-2862 before anyone picked a tool. Our case victories page lists them with the court and the outcome.

The pattern in those files is the one this post describes. Read the judgment, confirm the class, file the set aside the day the client qualifies, and file the sealing the month the wait ends. No judge promised any of those orders in advance. Each one weighed the file, heard from the prosecutor and signed.

Why should you choose AZ Record Removal?

Because we read your judgment against the law before you pay, and we tell you which tool applies. Arizona record clearing is the only work we do. AZ Record Removal is owned and powered by Future First Criminal Law, and our founder, Zachary Divelbiss, cleared six convictions from his own record before he cleared anyone else’s.

Here is what that looks like on a marijuana sale case.

• We pull the judgment and confirm the offense, the subsection and the felony class.
• We tell you whether expungement, a set aside or sealing is the tool, and in what order.
• We prepare and file every application and track the court until the judge rules.
• We calendar the sealing date years out and file the month it opens.
• We charge one flat fee per case, listed on our pricing page, with no court fee added.

We work statewide and handle everything virtually. Our phones are answered around the clock at 602-900-6240, and we schedule consultations during business hours. Our 250+ five-star Google reviews come from people who had cases like yours.

What should you do next?

Find your judgment and read the charge line. If it says sale, transport for sale or possession for sale, expungement under A.R.S. § 36-2862 is not your tool, and the set aside and sealing path is. If it says possession or paraphernalia, expungement is back on the table. Either way, the free eligibility quiz sorts your case in a few minutes. Then call 602-900-6240. We will tell you what we would file, when the sealing wait ends and what it costs. No judge is required to grant any of it, and putting the right application in front of the right judge is the work we do every day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is possession for sale of marijuana expungeable in Arizona?

No. A.R.S. § 36-2862 covers possessing, consuming or transporting two and one-half ounces or less, growing six or fewer plants at home, and paraphernalia. Possession for sale is a separate offense under A.R.S. § 13-3405 and is not on the list. A conviction for it goes through a set aside under A.R.S. § 13-905 and sealing under A.R.S. § 13-911 instead.

Does sealing a marijuana sale conviction restore your gun rights?

No. A.R.S. § 13-911 is silent on firearm rights, so a sealing order alone leaves the firearm prohibition in place. The set aside under A.R.S. § 13-905(O) is the order that restores the right to possess a firearm after a marijuana sale conviction. We file it first, and our firearm rights restoration page explains what the order covers.

How long does a marijuana sale conviction stay on your public record in Arizona?

Until a judge seals it. Arizona has no automatic removal for adult convictions, so the case stays on the public court index and in the DPS record for life without a filing. A class 4 possession for sale conviction becomes eligible for sealing five years after the sentence is complete. A class 2 or class 3 sale conviction waits ten years. The set aside is available sooner but leaves the record public.

Is there a waiting period for marijuana expungement in Arizona?

No. A.R.S. § 36-2862 sets no waiting period, and petitions have been accepted since July 12, 2021. You file whether the case ended last year or twenty years ago. The judge grants the petition unless the prosecutor proves by clear and convincing evidence that your offense falls outside the three covered acts, and a sale conviction is the most common way a filing falls outside them.