#Wes Moore

[reasonsforhope]

Article | Paywall Free

"Maryland Gov. Wes Moore issued a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday morning [June 17, 2024], one of the nation’s most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use.

The pardons forgive low-level marijuana possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people in what the Democratic governor said is a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harms Black and Brown people. Moore noted criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served.

[Note: If you're wondering how 175,000 convictions were pardoned but only 100,000 people are benefiting, it's because there are often multiple convictions per person.]

A Sweeping Act

“We aren’t nibbling around the edges. We are taking actions that are intentional, that are sweeping and unapologetic,” Moore said at an Annapolis event interrupted three times by standing ovations. “Policymaking is powerful. And if you look at the past, you see how policies have been intentionally deployed to hold back entire communities.”

Moore called the scope of his pardons “the most far-reaching and aggressive” executive action among officials nationwide who have sought to unwind criminal justice inequities with the growing legalization of marijuana. Nine other states and multiple cities have pardoned hundreds of thousands of old marijuana convictions in recent years, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Legalized marijuana markets reap billions in revenue for state governments each year, and polls show public sentiment on the drug has also turned — with more people both embracing cannabis use and repudiating racial disparities exacerbated by the War on Drugs.

The pardons, timed to coincide with Wednesday’s Juneteenth holiday, a day that has come to symbolize the end of slavery in the United States, come from a rising star in the Democratic Party and the lone Black governor of a U.S. state whose ascent is built on the promise to “leave no one behind.”

The Pardons and Demographics

Derek Liggins, 57, will be among those pardoned Monday, more than 16 years after his last day in prison for possessing and dealing marijuana in the late 1990s. Despite working hard to build a new life after serving time, Liggins said he still loses out on job opportunities and potential income.

“You can’t hold people accountable for possession of marijuana when you’ve got a dispensary on almost every corner,” he said.

Nationwide, according to the ACLU, Black people were more than three times more likely than White people to be arrested for marijuana possession. President Biden in 2022 issued a mass pardon of federal marijuana convictions — a reprieve for roughly 6,500 people — and urged governors to follow suit in states, where the vast majority of marijuana prosecutions take place.

Maryland’s pardon action rivals only Massachusetts, where the governor and an executive council together issued a blanket pardon in March expected to affect hundreds of thousands of people.

But Moore’s pardons appear to stand alone in the impact to communities of color in a state known for having one of the nation’s worst records for disproportionately incarcerating Black people for any crimes. More than 70 percent of the state’s male incarcerated population is Black, according to state data, more than double their proportion in society.

In announcing the pardons, he directly addressed how policies in Maryland and nationwide have systematically held back people of color — through incarceration and restricted access to jobs and housing...

Maryland, the most diverse state on the East Coast, has a dramatically higher concentration of Black people compared with other states that have issued broad pardons for marijuana: 33 percent of Maryland’s population is Black, while the next highest is Illinois, with 15 percent...

Reducing the state’s mass incarceration disparity has been a chief goal of Moore, Brown and Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue, who are all the first Black people to hold their offices in the state. Brown and Dartigue have launched a prosecutor-defender partnership to study the “the entire continuum of the criminal system,” from stops with law enforcement to reentry, trying to detect all junctures where discretion or bias could influence how justice is applied, and ultimately reform it.

How It Will Work

Maryland officials said the pardons, which would also apply to people who are dead, will not result in releasing anyone from incarceration because none are imprisoned. Misdemeanor cannabis charges yield short sentences and prosecutions for misdemeanor criminal possession have stopped, as possessing small amounts of the drug is legal statewide.

Moore’s pardon action will automatically forgive every misdemeanor marijuana possession charge the Maryland judiciary could locate in the state’s electronic court records system, along with every misdemeanor paraphernalia charge tied to use or possession of marijuana. Maryland is the only state to pardon such paraphernalia charges, state officials said...

People who benefit from the mass pardon will see the charges marked in state court records within two weeks, and they will be eliminated from criminal background check databases within 10 months."

-via The Washington Post, June 17, 2024. Headings added by me.

[accras]

Angela Alsobrooks defeated U.S. Representative David Trone in the Democratic primary and won the general election against former Republican governor Larry Hogan, becoming Maryland's first African-American senator and the third African-American woman elected as senator of any U.S. state.

[superiorstr8men]

[alwaysbewoke]

[dadsinsuits]

Wes Moore

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Nick Visser at HuffPost:

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) will pardon more than 175,000 low-level marijuana convictions on Monday, one of the nation’s largest acts of mass clemency, The Washington Post reported. “I’m ecstatic that we have a real opportunity with what I’m signing to right a lot of historical wrongs,” Moore told the Post on Sunday night, adding his action will help undo decades of harm toward people of color. “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 pardon is meant to coincide with this week’s Juneteenth holiday. Full data of those who will be pardoned will be announced at an event on Monday, although the Post said upwards of 100,000 people could benefit from the act. [...] Maryland legalized recreational use of marijuana on July 1, 2023, becoming one of 23 states, as well as Washington D.C., to do so.

Moore’s action will automatically forgive all misdemeanor possession charges the state is able to find in its electronic database, the Post reports, as well as every misdemeanor paraphernalia charge linked to use or possession of the drug. Those with older convictions only available on paper records will be able to apply for a pardon as well. The governor added that such convictions have been used to deny people housing and employment benefits, even after sentences have been served. And those charges have disproportionally been leveled against communities of color.

Kudos to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) for planning to pardon the 170,000+ low-level marijuana convictions.

[aashiqeddiediaz]

loving this country does not mean lying about its history. loving this country does not mean lying about its history. loving this country does not mean lying about its history. loving this country does not mean lying about its history. loving this country does not mean lying about its history.

[goopgirlie813]

We got a lot of time and we need to start preparing now. If we make it through Trump's presidency intact we need to elect a good democrat president (or if by some miracle the gop does a massive u turn then one of them that has good policies). There probably won't be official running announcements for a good while but let's get an idea of who is most likely to get in the race:

I would suggest reading up on all of these candidates and creating yourself a personal list of pros, cons, and achievements for each one. When intent to run does get announced, you'll be equipped to help support their campaigns.

Even before then, decide which one you would most like to see as president and try to support them in general. Widespread vocal support of a given candidate for president may increase the odds that they choose to run.

(I am getting started on both as we speak. I will reblog with my candidate preferences in order to encourage further discussion after I've done some reading. I am also going ahead and following the tags for each of these people's names as well as their social media accounts so that I get updates from them. I reccommend yall do the same.)

Also, now would be a good time to get involved with your local democratic party and learn how primaries work. Be prepared to show up and help us get a good ticket when the time comes.

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Speech Governor Walz gave in Roanoke!

~BR~

[arctic-hands]

The news didn't report it until today, but Maryland Governor Wes Moore officially recognized Trans Day of Visibility yesterday

[superiorstr8men]

[dadsinsuits]

Wes Moore