Report: More Than 24,000 Tainted Drug Convictions Tossed In Mass.

BOSTON (AP) — Thousands of drug convictions have been tossed in Massachusetts because of a former state drug lab chemist, Sonja Farak, who worked while high almost every day.

A report filed Tuesday with the state Supreme Judicial Court says more than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases have been dismissed as a result of the scandal.

The American Civil Liberties Union say the dismissals represent a "historic victory" for people wrongfully convicted of drug crimes based on unreliable evidence.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in October that Massachusetts must dismiss all convictions based on drug evidence tested at the Amherst lab between Jan. 1, 2009, and Jan. 18, 2013, when the lab closed.

Farak pleaded guilty to stealing drugs from the lab in 2014. She was sentenced to 18 months behind bars.

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