Uncommon Knowledge
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Maryland Governor Wes Moore revealed plans to pardon more than 175,000 convictions related to marijuana, including possession of both the drug and paraphernalia, that would put the state at the forefront of pardoning efforts across the country. However, the charges will not be permanently erased from their criminal records.
In the last ten years, more than 2.5 million people have had their marijuana charges expunged or pardoned, with more and more states taking action. Currently, 26 states have decriminalized marijuana and 24 have legalized it for recreational use, starting in 2012 with Colorado and Washington.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore holds up an executive order he signed to issue more than 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions on Monday, June 17, 2024 in Annapolis, Md.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore holds up an executive order he signed to issue more than 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions on Monday, June 17, 2024 in Annapolis, Md.
Brian Witte/AP Photo
Which states have pardoned the most people for marijuana?
According to data from Norml, Oregon has pardoned 45,000 people, while governors in Nevada, Illinois and Kansas have all pardoned more than 8,000 people. In Alabama, the Mayor of Birmingham pardoned an estimate 23,000 people, via the Pardons For Progress initiative.
The pardoning efforts received national attention in 2022, when President Joe Biden became the first president to issue mass pardons for drug convictions. Biden pardoned more than 6,000 citizens arrested after 1992 for possessing marijuana, later expanding the decree to include nearly 7,000 more people.
At the time, Biden said: “Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities.”
State-level expungements have also been a large part of the movement. While pardons recognize forgiveness for a past crime, and are issued by the executive branch, expungements instead remove the crime from someone’s criminal record. For low-level charges in particular, expungement prevents marijuana crimes from having long-lasting impact on personal life.
California has expunged around 200,000 records. In Illinois, state officials expunged the records of over half a million residents with cannabis-related criminal records in 2020.
New York, New Jersey, and Virginia wiped the records of over 200,000 people in each state for marijuana charges, expunging almost a million convictions between the three of them. 24 states have made similar widespread expungement for marijuana-related criminal convictions.
Newsweek has also mapped where marijuana is most expensive in the U.S.
Correction, 6/21/24, 12:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated to reflect that the Mayor of Birmingham was responsible for the pardons in Alabama, and not the governor.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
“}]] With new pardons being announced in Maryland, more than 2.5 million people in the US have had their drug convictions cleared. Read More
