Maryland.- Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order this Monday morning pardoning more than 175,000 convictions for minor charges related to marijuana use.
His administration said the mass pardon would likely affect about 100,000 people convicted of minor crimes such as possession. Some of them have multiple convictions.
“This is a responsibility that I take very, very seriously,” Mr. Moore said at a news conference, adding that he was acting “with deep pride and sobriety.”
The move comes two days before Juneteenth, an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War that has been celebrated by Black people since the late 1800s. In 2021, President Biden signed a bill which converted June 19 into a federal holiday.
“Today is about equity; it is about racial justice,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said Monday. “While the order applies to everyone who meets its criteria, the impact is a triumphant victory for African Americans and other Marylanders of color who were disproportionately arrested, convicted, and sentenced for yesterday’s actions that are legal today.”
Maryland legalized recreational marijuana use through a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2022, and decriminalized possession of small amounts for personal use. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational cannabis, according to The Associated Press.
Maryland joins the Biden administration, nine other states and some cities where officials have granted clemency in some form to people convicted of low-level marijuana offenses, according to a report from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Marijuana. Maryland’s action stands out for the large number of convictions it pardons at a time, according to the organization.
Mr. Moore said his executive order was unique in pardoning people with convictions related to the possession of cannabis paraphernalia, as well as the possession of cannabis.
Mass pardons do not completely remove convictions from people’s criminal records. Under Maryland’s program, people whose convictions have been pardoned can petition a state court to have their records expunged. Those cases are decided individually by judges, and are not automatic, an administration official told reporters at a briefing.
The mass pardon automatically applies to anyone with an electronic record showing a misdemeanor marijuana conviction in the state. People with convictions prior to electronic records can also obtain a pardon, but must apply individually; Their requests will be granted if they meet the criteria, the official said.
In contrast, Pennsylvania’s pardon program for minor marijuana offenses is not automatic for anyone; all potential beneficiaries must apply individually. Just under 300 people received pardons in 2023 under that program.
A low-level marijuana conviction could be a major life setback, according to Jason Ortiz, director of the Last Prisoner Project, a group that advocates for clemency for cannabis offenders.
“As someone who, at the age of 16, was arrested for possession of cannabis and actually had an accelerated charge because he had paraphernalia and a pack of rolling papers, I was expelled from school, denied access to my education high school, torn away from my family and friends and had to endure two years of solitary confinement for a simple cannabis charge,” Mr. Ortiz said.
Several Republican lawmakers who have opposed a number of measures related to cannabis legalization in Maryland did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the mass pardon.
The administration official said no one was currently serving prison time in Maryland for just minor marijuana offenses, so the executive order would not directly release any prisoners. People convicted of both felonies and misdemeanors would continue to serve their felony sentences, even if the pardon has forgiven their misdemeanors.
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