Old Cannabis Verdicts
Maryland’s governor wants to pardon 100,000 people
June 17, 2024, 7:36 am
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Previous convictions can make it difficult to find a job or apartment. This also applies to marijuana-related penalties. It was legalized in Maryland last year. Now the governor wants to help the criminals.
According to a media report, the governor of the US state of Maryland wants to pardon more than 100,000 people convicted of possessing or using marijuana in recent decades. Wes Moore, a Democrat and the state’s first black governor, told the Washington Post that signing the executive order would right “a lot of historical wrongs.” In the East Coast state, recreational possession of marijuana has been legal since a 2023 referendum.
Moore said many people are still at a disadvantage when looking for jobs or housing because of previous marijuana possession convictions. Many of the victims belong to ethnic minorities. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said repealing the sentences would affect black people “disproportionately but in a positive way.”
Although only 33 percent of Maryland’s six million residents are black, the state’s male incarceration rate is more than 70 percent, according to the Washington Post. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), black people are three times more likely than white people to be arrested for possession of marijuana.
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