马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔赦免了超过175，000人因吸食大麻而被定罪他的办公室周一宣布。
“我很荣幸能和你们一起在历史悠久的马里兰州议会大厦——我们一起创造我们自己的历史，”他在一次演讲中宣布在X上发布。“今天早上——带着深深的自豪和清醒——我将赦免175，000多项与持有大麻和大麻相关的定罪。”
在周一签署行政命令的讲话中，摩尔将其描述为“美国历史上任何一个州最全面的州级赦免”
即便如此，摩尔强调，大规模赦免不会“让这场禁毒战争造成的数十年伤害时光倒流”，特别是对黑人社区而言，他们不成比例地承受了监禁的压力。
“合法化并不能抹杀这样一个事实:2000年代初，在马里兰州所有因毒品被捕的人中，有近一半是因为大麻。他说:“这并不能抹杀这样一个事实，即在大麻合法化之前，马里兰黑人因吸食大麻被捕的可能性是马里兰白人的三倍。“这并不能抹杀这样一个事实，那就是，在你的记录上有一个信念，意味着在所有事情上都将更加艰难，从住房到就业到教育的所有事情。这并不能抹杀一个事实，即三、四、四十年前因大麻被捕的人至今仍有这些定罪记录。”
“如果我们不解决合法化的后果，我们就不能庆祝合法化的好处。他补充道。
马里兰州于2023年7月1日将成年人娱乐用大麻合法化。
赦免的消息传出仅一个月前，拜登政府表示将正式推进一项重新分类大麻的提议从附表一至附表三。
司法部上个月向联邦注册局提交了拟议规则制定的通知，如果获得批准，重新安排将限制对那些在涉及联邦犯罪时拥有大麻的人的惩罚。
该提案有60天的公众意见征询期。此后，缉毒局局长可以指派一名行政法法官审议证据并作出最终列表建议
美国广播公司新闻4月报道称缉毒署正计划重新安排大麻。
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore pardoning 175,000 marijuana convictions
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is pardoning more than 175,000convictions for marijuana, his office announced Monday.
"I am humbled to be with you in the historic Maryland State House -- as we make history of our own, together," he announced in apost on X. "This morning – with deep pride and soberness – I will pardon over 175,000 convictions related to the possession of cannabis and cannabis paraphernalia."
In a speech Monday where he signed the executive order, Moore described it as "the most sweeping state-level pardon in any state in American history."
Even so, Moore emphasized that the mass pardons won't "turn back the clock on decades of harm that was caused by this war on drugs" -- particularly for the Black community, which has disproportionately borne the brunt of incarcerations.
"Legalization does not erase the fact that nearly half of all drug arrests in Maryland during the early 2000s were for cannabis. It doesn't erase the fact that Black Marylanders were three times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than white Marylanders before legalization," he said. "It doesn't erase the fact that having a conviction on your record means a harder time with everything, everything from housing to employment to education. It doesn't erase the fact that people who were arrested for cannabis three or four or 40 years ago still have those convictions on their records to this day."
"We cannot celebrate the benefits of legalization if we do not address the consequences. of criminalization," he added.
Maryland made cannabis legal for recreational use for adults on July 1, 2023.
The news of the pardons comes just a month after the Biden administration said it was officially moving forward with aproposal to reclassify marijuanafrom Schedule I to Schedule III.
The Justice Department submitted the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the Office of the Federal Register last month, and if approved, the rescheduling would limit the punishment for those who are in possession of marijuana when it comes to a federal crime.
The proposal is subject to a 60-day public comment period. After that, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration can assign an administrative law judge to consider the evidence and make a final scheduling recommendation
ABC News reported in April thatthe Drug Enforcement Administrationwas planning to reschedule marijuana.
