President Biden urged governors to take action. Now, they are.
Shiloh Jordan, right, greets Maryland Gov. Wes Moore , who pardoned him for a misdemeanor marijuana conviction Monday in Annapolis. Maryland’s legalization of recreational marijuana just over a year ago has obviously been a boon to users. But it has also benefited the state, bringing in more than $26 million in tax revenue during the second half of 2023.
Mr. Moore’s executive order forgiving low-level marijuana offenses for an estimated 100,000 people is a good example of clemency done properly. The bulk of the cases are misdemeanors, involving possession and possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia. The pardons also help correct a glaring racial disparity: Before Maryland joined 23 states and D.C. in legalizing recreational cannabis with a constitutional amendment that went into effect last year, Black Marylanders were.
Mr. Moore appears to be thinking along the same lines in a state that has already done what the federal government is on the road to doing. Sentences for the types of offenses pardoned in Maryland this month were short to begin with, and, because of the 2023 amendment, prosecutions for possession misdemeanors have now stopped altogether. That means, because no one covered is imprisoned. But the move is still significant, both symbolically and substantively.
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