CNN —Maryland’s governor pardoned more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday – a significant act of mass clemency that reflects the rapidly changing attitudes toward a drug that more than half of Americans want to see legalized.
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.
But it 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.
Officials framed the pardons as an effort to undo the lasting harm left by these convictions, which are disproportionately borne by Black and brown people.
The war on drugs was a war on communities of color,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said at Monday’s event.
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