Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey says she'll issue pardons for tens of thousands of people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana charges going back decades in the latest example of a state ambitiously seeking to forgive low-level drug offenders.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey holds a news conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Healey said she would issue pardons for tens of thousands of people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana charges going back decades in the latest example of a state ambitiously seeking to forgive low-level drug offenders. – Massachusetts Gov.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a fellow Democrat, said she supports Healey's effort. She said convictions for simple marijuana possession can have lifelong consequences. The administration estimated the pardons announced Wednesday could end up benefitting hundreds of thousands of people.
“For 20-some-odd years of my life this was the monkey on my back that I couldn’t avoid or get away from. It was always something I had to live with,” said Vazquez who eventually got his records sealed and now works in the legal marijuana industry. “That pardon will definitely open a lot of doors economically for others who are in my position or once were in my position and are still afraid to come out of the shadows.
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