ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Monday ordered pardons for more than 175,000 people with marijuana-related convictions, saying the “widest state-level pardons of any state” will help undo past harms caused by the war on drugs.
Governor Moore said at a press conference that the order affects “tens of thousands of Marylanders” who have been convicted of minor crimes, some of whom may have had multiple convictions pardoned through the process.
“We are taking intentional, sweeping and unapologetic action — the largest such action in the history of our nation,” said Moore, a Democrat.
While the pardons do not release anyone from prison or automatically erase past convictions from background checks, advocates praised the measures as a way to remove barriers to housing, employment and educational opportunities based on convictions for conduct that is no longer illegal.
Heather Warnken, executive director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law, called the pardons “a victory for thousands of Marylanders who will now have a fresh start pursuing education, employment and other economic opportunities without the taint of a criminal conviction.”
Recreational marijuana became legal in Maryland in 2023 after voters approved a constitutional amendment with 67% of the vote in 2022. Maryland decriminalized possession of marijuana for personal use on January 1, 2023.
Currently, recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
“This is about changing the way government and society view people who have been denied opportunity because of broken and unfair policies,” Moore said.
“Legalization will not undo decades of damage caused by this war on drugs,” Moore said.
He continued, “It doesn't erase the fact that before legalization, Black Marylanders were three times more likely than white Marylanders to be arrested for marijuana possession. It doesn't erase the fact that having a conviction on your record means greater hardship in everything from housing to employment to education.”
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