Pardons are one small step in healing drug war wounds | STAFF COMMENTARY

Governor's historic pardon for those convicted of minor cannabis crimes is incrementally helpful in correcting racial disparities.

Whatever criticism Gov. Wes Moore may draw for his decision to issue a staggering 175,000 pardons on misdemeanor marijuana charges, one has to acknowledge the unreasonableness of maintaining the status quo. Maryland has today not only legalized pot but now rakes in huge fees from its licensed dispensaries. Yet there still are individuals — and they are disproportionately likely to be Black men — disadvantaged for having been charged with cannabis possession in the past. If anything, Moore’s action was overdue. That it falls on the same week as Juneteenth, the national holiday where we recognize the end of slavery and look to promote racial and personal advancement seems entirely appropriate.

Yet even as Governor Moore, Attorney General Anthony Brown and others gathered in the State House Monday morning for this historic moment — surely the most sweeping marijuana clemency effort of any state in the nation — there was also something underwhelming about it. Perhaps because Maryland has taken past steps in this direction, including allowing individuals convicted of cannabis-specific crimes to seek to have their criminal records expunged (including felony charges in some cases). Or maybe because even a pardon only goes so far toward putting individuals, their families and in some cases broad swaths of disadvantaged neighborhoods on a better path. If anything, the occasion was, at best, incremental. Life in Maryland did not noticeably change on Tuesday for many. The fight for equity marches on.

Any fair and reasonable assessment of this country’s failed war on drugs must recognize that the chief casualties have been men of color. Studies have shown that marijuana use is just as common among white people as it is among non-white people. Yet arrest and prosecution is a burden not so evenly shared. And this is one big reason why Maryland’s male prison population is about 70% Black, which is about twice their overall proportion statewide. And once you create this disparity — and maintain it for generations — any “fix” is not going to be as simple as decriminalizing drugs as former Mayor Kurt Schmoke recommended 36 years ago.

Why aren’t other governors putting their signatures on similar executive orders? There is a continuum here. Some states have, at least, made it possible to expunge records or simply deny potential employers or landlords or lenders from having access to them. Yet in those states (Maryland included), former criminal defendants have often been slow to seek to clear their records. Why? Most likely not a shortage of interest but a deficit of legal expertise and resources. It’s not uncommon, for example, for drug charges to be wrapped up in related criminal proceedings so it may require a full-scale court proceeding. Others may simply question whether it’s worth the trouble or expense. Meanwhile, how many governors, particularly in more politically conservative states, want to appear to be soft on crime? Once again, the politics do not favor an unfairly treated minority.

Times change, of course. The burden of past pot-related convictions is probably not as great today as it was in years past. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that correcting social ills moves at a glacial pace without deliberate intervention. As Governor Moore and Attorney General Brown (the first African Americans to hold both those elected positions in Maryland’s 392 year history) observed on Monday, the effects of slavery have lingered across the decades. The governor’s signature call to “leave no one behind” applies as clearly to the ongoing war against social injustice as it does to the battlefields of Afghanistan where Moore was once deployed as an officer in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

And so the fight continues. Even gubernatorial pardons go only so far, particularly given that the federal government won’t recognize the state’s actions. We need more sensible and consistent adult-use cannabis laws on the books at all levels and locales. This must begin on Capitol Hill where lawmakers need to act responsibly and end this ridiculously complex status quo that has maintained a federal ban even as at least 38 states have legal pot in some form.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.