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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) made history Monday with a mass pardoning of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions, a move he said would changes the lives of tens of thousands of Marylanders after the state legalized recreational cannabis last year.
“We know that legalization does not turn back the clock on decades of harm that was caused by the war on drugs,” Moore said during a pardoning ceremony at the State House on Monday.
“Legalization does not erase the fact that nearly half of all drug arrests in Maryland during the early 2000s were for cannabis; it doesn’t erase the fact that Black Marylanders were three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than white Marylanders before legalization; it doesn’t erase the fact that having a conviction on your record means a harder time with everything: everything from housing to employment to education.”