Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) will be issuing a mass pardon for more than 175,000 marijuana convictions on Monday.
The pardons will be one of the country’s biggest acts of clemency involving the drug that’s now widely used recreationally.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Moore said it will be a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harmed people of color.
“I’m ecstatic that we have a real opportunity with what I’m signing to right a lot of historical wrongs,” he said. “If you want to be able to create inclusive economic growth, it means you have to start removing these barriers that continue to disproportionately sit on communities of color.”
The Post noted that nine other states and multiple cities have pardoned hundreds of thousands of previous marijuana convictions in recent years but Moore’s actions impact communities of color significantly because Maryland has one of the country’s worst records for disproportionately incarcerating Black people.
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