Maryland Governor Issues 7,000 Cannabis Pardons

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced during a Juneteenth address on Thursday that he is pardoning nearly 7,000 people convicted of cannabis crimes in the state, NBC Washington reports.

The move follows the governor’s pardoning last year of over 175,000 past cannabis convictions, a move that affected some 100,000 individuals and was one of the largest-ever gubernatorial cannabis pardoning actions.

Additionally, Moore announced that some $400 million would be dedicated to historically underserved Maryland neighborhoods to help raise home appraisal values and increase home ownership, the report said.

The governor also announced a $1.34 billion investment for historically Black universities and colleges, and designated $816 million in procurement contracts for Black-owned businesses, the Shore News Network reports.

The governor’s pardons forgive past convictions but do not expunge or shield them from public view. Last April, however, Gov. Moore signed a bill into law that requires the state to automatically shield from public view all criminal records associated with low-level cannabis convictions in the state.

Maryland’s adult-use cannabis market launched in 2023 under a proposal passed earlier that year by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Moore.