Gov. Maura Healey asked a group of elected officials to approve a plan that would pardon misdemeanor cannabis possession convictions, a move she said could impact “hundreds of thousands of people.”
Healey pitched her proposal Wednesday as the “most comprehensive action” by a governor since President Joe Biden pardoned federal cannabis possession convictions and called on state leaders to do the same. The initiative needs the sign off from the Governor’s Council, a seven-member group tasked with reviewing pardons and judicial nominations.
The pardons Healey wants to issue are “the most sweeping … ever proposed by a governor in the United States,” the first-term Democrat said at the State House.
“The reason we do this is simple, justice requires it. Massachusetts decriminalized possession for personal use back in 2008, legalized it in 2016. Yet, thousands of people are still living with a conviction on their records, a conviction that may be a barrier to jobs, getting housing, even getting an education,” Healey said while standing on the Grand Staircase, surrounded by lawmakers, public officials, and law enforcement.
Cannabis use and possession is legal under Massachusetts law after voters approved a ballot measure in November 2016 that kicked off the creation of a brand new recreational industry. Marijuana laws, Healey argued, have “dramatically changed” over the past few decades.
People with misdemeanor convictions for the possession of cannabis before March 13 would be eligible for a pardon under Healey’s plan, according to a summary provided by her office.
It would not apply to those with criminal cases resolved after March 13; other cannabis-related convictions like trafficking; convictions from jurisdictions outside Massachusetts, including federal court; or continuances without a finding or other non-conviction dispositions.
Newton Police Chief John Carmichael, the head of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said law enforcement are backing the pardon push.
“Gov. Healey’s pardon provides a fair and impartial response to prior misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses, helping align these past convictions with the current laws of the commonwealth,” he said.
The pardons would become effective “immediately after the Governor’s Council votes to approve it, although it will take some time for individual criminal records to be updated,” the Healey administration said.
Most people would likely need to do nothing in order to claim their pardon.
“If the Governor’s Council approves this pardon, various state agencies will work together over the coming months to update many criminal records to reflect this pardon, although limitations in electronic court records will mean that not everyone will have their record updated this way,” the administration said.
Cannabis pardon certificates could be requested through an online form if a person needs proof of a pardon before their record is updated or because they believe their record has not been updated through the automatic process, according to an outline of the proposal.
The pardon is “not intended” to forgive any court fees or other fines that have already been paid and does not provide “a basis for seeking a refund,” according to a preview of an FAQ document the administration said it planned to post online.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell said she backed the efforts to “rectify historic racial disparities.”
“Criminal convictions for simple marijuana possession have serious lifelong consequences, making it nearly impossible to secure housing, obtain a job, be afforded educational and other financial opportunities. These consequences are only compounded when you consider that a disproportionate number of those who have been arrested and convicted for marijuana possession are Black and brown people,” Campbell said.
Senate President Karen Spilka said the pardons are a “tangible and very important step” towards making Massachusetts a more “equitable place.”
“We need to be doing everything we can to make sure that people can be empowered to get jobs, be housed, go to school, to make their lives better, and the lives of all of their family members. A misdemeanor cannabis possession charge should simply not, and I emphasize the word not, stand in the way of any of those things,” the Ashland Democrat said.
Biden, during his State of the Union address last week, said he directed his administration to review the federal classification of cannabis and expunge “thousands of convictions for mere possession.”
“No one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana,” he said, according to a White House transcription of his remarks.
