Friday, May 9, 2025
Weed Deep Dive
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Medical
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Weed Deep Dive
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Medical
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Weed Deep Dive
No Result
View All Result

Maryland Governor Pardons over 175,000 Low-Level Marijuana Convictions

Keegan MacDonald by Keegan MacDonald
June 25, 2024
in Featured, Politics
136
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Views: 28

Maryland’s governor issued pardons for more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday – a significant act of mass clemency that reflects the rapidly changing attitudes toward a drug that an increasing number of Americans want to see legalized.

The pardons by Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, will forgive low-level marijuana possession and certain paraphernalia charges for an estimated 100,000 people, the governor’s office said – noting it was possible for a person to have more than one conviction pardoned.

Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that acts on the cannabinoid receptors in our brains, evoking a euphoric high. The drug is sold as green or brown dried leaves from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa and is typically rolled into a cigarette or inhaled from a bong. In recent years, certain cities and states have approved marijuana for recreational or medical use, but the DEA hasn’t recognized the drug as having a function in medicine.

“This is about changing how both government and society view those who have been walled off from opportunity because of broken and uneven policies,” Moore said at a signing event Monday, almost two years after Maryland voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.

The governor described his executive order as “the most sweeping state-level pardon” in the country’s history. In an acknowledgement of the disproportionate impact the issue has on Black and brown people, the event coincided this week with Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the US, The Washington Post reported.

Monday’s order will result in the pardons of more than 150,000 misdemeanor convictions for simple possession of cannabis and more than 18,000 misdemeanor convictions for use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia, the governor office said. About 25% of those convictions stem from the city of Baltimore.

The pardons – which will also apply to people who have died, the Post reported – will not result in people being freed from incarceration, the governor’s office said, and it noted Monday’s action was not the same as expungement.

The order signed Monday directs the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional services to devise a way to indicate the pardon on an individual’s criminal record. But those seeking to have their conviction removed from the public record must still petition the courts.

Marylanders approved recreational cannabis for adult use amid a marked change in the way cannabis is viewed by the public: In November 2023, a record 70% of Americans surveyed by Gallup said they supported cannabis legalization. In 2014, the share was 51%.

“We cannot celebrate the benefits of legalization if we do not address the consequences of criminalization,” Moore said, noting that the convictions pardoned Monday meant “a harder time with everything – everything from housing, to employment to education.”

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said at Monday’s event there was a “deeply rooted bias in drug related arrests and sentencing,” which he described as a vestige of slavery.

“Cannabis convictions for hundreds of thousands of people here in Maryland were scarlet letters, modern day shackles,” he said. “I can almost hear the clanging of those shackles falling to the floor with your pardon this morning, governor.”

Moore’s pardons Monday are just the latest illustration of the waning restrictions around marijuana, which has so far been legalized for adult recreational use in 24 states, two territories and Washington, DC, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-eight states allow the medical use of cannabis products.

In April, the US Department of Justice recommended marijuana – designated for more than 50 years as a Schedule I substance – be rescheduled as a Schedule III controlled substance, which would bring its classification in line with prescription drugs such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.

State-licensed cannabis dispensaries and retail shops are expected to generate $32.1 billion in sales this year, according to estimates from MJBiz, a cannabis industry trade publication and events organizer.

Read the whole article from CNN here.

Previous Post

DEA’s proposal to move weed to Schedule III has gotten over 20,000 comments

Next Post

Shocker, weed doesn’t really help with Covid-19

Keegan MacDonald

Keegan MacDonald

Related Posts

New Cannabinoid Has Been Discovered

New Cannabinoid Has Been Discovered

by Graham Cooper
May 9, 2025
0

Some researchers in South Korea were searching inside the structure of a cannabis plant for anti-tumor properties when they came...

84% Of Registered Voters In Texas Support Legalizing Cannabis Under Certain Circumstances

84% Of Registered Voters In Texas Support Legalizing Cannabis Under Certain Circumstances

by Keegan MacDonald
May 7, 2025
0

A new University of the Texas Politics Project Poll reveals that a vast majority of Texas voters support the legalization...

California is getting another weed tax hike

California is getting another weed tax hike

by Graham Cooper
May 6, 2025
0

The illicit market continues to thrive, and the main consensus on why that's the case is that taxes on marijuana...

Be Careful What You Smoke, New Research Shows The Problem With Disposable Vapes

Be Careful What You Smoke, New Research Shows The Problem With Disposable Vapes

by Keegan MacDonald
May 2, 2025
0

The 2018 Farm Bill, which federally legalized hemp with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, inadvertently opened the door to a...

Next Post
Shocker, weed doesn’t really help with Covid-19

Shocker, weed doesn't really help with Covid-19

Latest

New Cannabinoid Has Been Discovered

New Cannabinoid Has Been Discovered

May 9, 2025
84% Of Registered Voters In Texas Support Legalizing Cannabis Under Certain Circumstances

84% Of Registered Voters In Texas Support Legalizing Cannabis Under Certain Circumstances

May 7, 2025
California is getting another weed tax hike

California is getting another weed tax hike

May 6, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign up for the WDD Newsletter

Categories

  • Business
  • Featured
  • Lifestyle
  • Medical
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • New Cannabinoid Has Been Discovered
  • 84% Of Registered Voters In Texas Support Legalizing Cannabis Under Certain Circumstances

Browse by Tag

cannabis covid marijuana ban ncaa

AFFILIATES

© Weed Deep DIve. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Medical
  • Shop

© Weed Deep DIve. All rights reserved.