Maryland Governor Jokes About Marijuana Legalization Being The ‘One Thing’ That Got More Votes Than Him On The Ballot

The governor of Maryland is proud that he received more votes than any prior gubernatorial candidate in the state when he was elected—but he says there was “one thing that beat me on the ballot” in 2022: Marijuana legalization.

“So I’m like, ‘Yo, who is cannabis? And how are they so popular?'” Moore joked during a speech at a Washington, D.C. bookstore on Tuesday.

“But at the same time that I was elected governor, Maryland voted to have a recreational cannabis market. So I said, ‘We’re going to make sure that it is fair, we’re going to make sure that it is smooth and we’re going to make sure that it’s safe,'” Moore continued. “But also, I refuse to celebrate the benefits of legalization if we do not also address the consequences of criminalization.”

“We cannot have a new legal market—that is now a billion-dollar market in the state of Maryland—but also have people who cannot get barber’s licenses or cannot get a student loan because of a misdemeanor cannabis conviction from the 1990s,” he said, adding that’s why he signed “the largest mass pardon in the history of the United States of America when I ended up pardoning over 175,000 misdemeanor cannabis convictions. So I was proud to use my pardon powers for good.”

He followed up on that clemency action in June, issuing another mass pardon for people with past marijuana possession convictions—granting relief to about 7,000 more people on the holiday Juneteenth that commemorates the end of slavery.

In February, the governor also touted in his State of the State address legislation that would expand opportunities for people to have their criminal records for marijuana expunged, allowing people who violated terms of their parole or probation to petition courts to erase those records.

Meanwhile, in April, Moore signed a series of cannabis bills, including one that will require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

He further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use, as well as a measure dealing with rules around cannabis consumption lounges.

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Separately, the Maryland Senate also passed a measure this session to protect for fire and rescue workers from being penalized for off-duty use of medical marijuana, though it did not advance through the House.

In January, officials in Maryland’s most populous county separately said they were moving to loosen marijuana policies for would-be police officers in an effort to boost recruitment amid a staffing shortage.

Meanwhile, Maryland’s psychedelics task force recently came out with an initial report as it gathers information about various regulatory and public health considerations that could pave the path for the legalization of substances such as psilocybin, mescaline and DMT for medical or recreational purposes in the state.

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.