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Pardons decreed for 100,000 people, most belonging to ethnic minorities. A step forward after legalization in 2023
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The US state of Maryland will quash 175,000 convictions for marijuana use issued in recent decades, Governor Wes Moore announced in an interview with the Washington Post. Maryland’s first black Democratic governor told the American newspaper that he intends to “rectify a large number of historical wrongs” by signing this pardon.
Rights denied
About 100,000 people will have convictions for possessing or smoking a drug that is now legal in the state and widely used disappear from their criminal records. According to Moore, many people – most of whom belong to ethnic minorities – are still denied jobs, housing or access to education due to previous convictions for cannabis possession.
The 2023 referendum
Maryland, a state of six million inhabitants on the eastern coast of the USA, has legalized the recreational use and retail sale of marijuana with a referendum in 2023. According to state Attorney General Anthony Brown, the pardon applies to all those convicted of possession of marijuana but “disproportionately positively affects” the black population. The Washington Post points out that African Americans represent 33% of Maryland’s population but 70% of the people incarcerated in the state.
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