Maryland Governor Marks Juneteenth With Another Mass Marijuana Pardon For Nearly 7,000 People

The governor of Maryland has issued another mass pardon for people with
past marijuana possession convictions, granting clemency to about 7,000
more people on the holiday Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) has been one of the most proactive governors when it
comes to cannabis pardons since his state enacted legalization, stressing
the need to right the wrongs of prohibition through executive action.

This latest round follows a historic mass clemency action Moore took last
year, when he pardoned more than 175,000 convictions for low-level cannabis
and paraphernalia offenses.

The governor’s new executive order, which he signed at the Bethel AME
Church on Thursday, covers 6,938 people who the state judiciary didn’t
identify in the initial round due to technical complications.

“These cases were not included in the initial pardon because they were
coded incorrectly, and thus, were not found in the Judiciary’s initial
searches of their data,” a spokesperson for the governor’s office said.
“The Judiciary recently located these cases when researching their data to
determine how best to implement the Expungement Reform Act.”

In a video posted on Facebook on Thursday, the governor said “Juneteenth
reminds us of the shoulders we stand on—and our responsibility to hand off
this country better than we found it.”

He didn’t describe the latest executive order, but he added that he was
“proud to issue the largest state pardon in our nation’s history—pardoning
175,000 Maryland convictions for cannabis possession” last year.

In a separate interview with TheGrio, Moore said the “deeply complicated”
history of his state and of the country is a motivator to act on reform.

“The history and inequity of this country—it runs deep,” he said. “That
should also serve as fuel and motivation—as an understanding of why we
can’t wait. Why we need action.”

“Even after Maryland legalized and made a recreational cannabis market, I
had people in my state who could not get a barber’s license or could not
get a student loan, or couldn’t get a home loan because of a misdemeanor
cannabis conviction that took place in the 1980s,” Moore said.

“As chief executive, as a governor, I have the authority to be able to
right so many of these historical wrongs, knowing that these pardons are
going to have a disproportionate impact on African Americans, because the
impact that we’ve seen on this war has been a war oftentimes on Black
communities.”

Adrian Rocha, policy director for the Last Prisoner Project, praised
Moore’s latest action, saying it affirms a “commitment to his promise to
build a state and society that is more equitable, more just and leaves no
one behind.”

“States across the country should be emboldened to follow Moore’s lead,” he
said.

In February, the governor also touted in his State of the State address
legislation that would expand opportunities for people to have their
criminal records for marijuana expunged, allowing people who violated terms
of their parole or probation to petition courts to erase those records.


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Meanwhile, in April, Moore signed a series of cannabis bills, including one
that will require state officials to automatically shield records for
low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access,
and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other
offenses.

He further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture
marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use, as well as a measure
dealing with rules around cannabis consumption lounges.

Separately, the Maryland Senate also passed a measure this session to
protect for fire and rescue workers from being penalized for off-duty use
of medical marijuana, though it did not advance through the House.

Employers could not “discipline, discharge, or otherwise discriminate
against the fire and rescue public safety employee with respect to the
employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment”
based solely on a positive screening for THC metabolites under the
legislation.

In January, officials in Maryland’s most populous county separately said they
were moving to loosen marijuana policies for would-be police officers in an
effort to boost recruitment amid a staffing shortage.

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Pardon For Nearly 7,000 People appeared first on Marijuana Moment.