Maryland’s governor told the Washington Post in an interview published Sunday that he would mass pardon 175,000 people convicted of minor marijuana offenses.
Gov. Wes Moore told the Post he would conduct the mass pardon Monday morning. He said the timing should coincide with the Juneteenth holiday, which marks the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans.
Mr. Moore’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Black Americans have historically been three times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession, according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Mr. Moore told the Post that these criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families long after they have served their sentences.
“I’m thrilled that we have a real opportunity, with what I’m signing, to right a lot of historic wrongs,” Mr. Moore told the Post.
Mr. Moore’s move follows a similar mass pardon in Massachusetts, and after President Joe Biden issued a few pardons in recent years for federal drug convictions. In April, Joe Biden’s administration took steps to make marijuana use a less serious offense at the federal level.
While the use and possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, 24 states—including Maryland and Washington, D.C.—have legalized recreational marijuana use under state law, while 38 states and Washington DC allows the medical use of marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
