Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said his state wanted to lead the way toward “moral justice and economic justice” by issuing more than 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions in the state.
Moore joined MSNBC on Tuesday to speak about his historic action and why the state moved to pardon the convictions after the state legalized recreational cannabis last year.
“We did it because this is about both moral justice and economic justice,” he said. “And the reason I bring up both those two things is, you know, Maryland voted that we should have a recreational cannabis market. In fact, we voted by a 70 percent margin.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, Moore noted that the decision to issue the pardons will significantly impact communities of color because Maryland has one of the country’s worst records for disproportionately incarcerating Black people.
The pardons won’t release anyone from prison because it only impacts misdemeanor cannabis charges, which carry short sentences. Prosecutions for those charged with such crimes have stopped since it’s now legal to carry small amounts of marijuana.
Moore noted that he recently was with a Marylander who has not been able to gain steady work for years because of his misdemeanor cannabis charge.
He was unable to pass a background check and was fired from a position, Moore said, “and so this was really important, not just economically for the state, it was really important for the individuals” who were pardoned.
“But also, this was really important when it came to taking a moral course for how Maryland was going to operate, how Maryland was going to lead,” he said.
During a pardoning ceremony at the State House on Monday, Moore said the action represents a piece of larger efforts to address racial injustice in the state.
“We cannot celebrate the benefits of legalization if we do not address the consequences of criminalization,” Moore said. “Undoing decades of harm cannot happen in a day, but we’re going to keep up the work.”