MA Cannabis Convictions Up In Smoke: Healey Issuing Pardons

MASSACHUSETTS — Gov. Maura Healey will seek pardons for residents who have misdemeanor marijuana convictions, a move that could help thousands have an easier time getting jobs and housing with newly cleared criminal records.

Healey's blanket pardon, which would need approval from the Governor's Council, was a campaign promise when she ran for governor in 2022. The pardons come six years after Massachusetts saw its first recreational cannabis store open, the first along the East Coast.

"Nobody should face barriers to getting a job, housing or an education because of an old misdemeanor marijuana conviction that they would not be charged for today," Healey said Wednesday morning. "We’re taking this nation-leading action as part of our commitment to using the clemency process to advance fairness and equity in our criminal justice system."

There is evidence that marijuana laws in Massachusetts have penalized certain groups more harshly. Voters in 2008 approved decriminalizing marijuana in Massachusetts making possession under 28 grams punishable by a fine without creating a criminal record. Black residents, only 8 percent of the state population, accounted for 24 percent of possession arrests before decriminalization, according to the ACLU of Massachusetts. Black residents still faced disproportionate criminal enforcement after decriminalization in 2008.

"In 2014, five years after decriminalization, the marijuana possession arrest rate for Black people was 3.3 times higher than for white people, demonstrating that racial disparity increased after decriminalization," the ACLU found.

In 2022 and 2023, President Joe Biden issued blanket pardons at the federal level for simple possession, attempted possession and use of marijuana. Massachusetts would follow states like Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Illinois in issuing pardons for low level marijuana offenses.

"[C]onvictions for simple possession of marijuana have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities," Biden said in 2023 following a second blanket pardon.

The drug is still a Schedule 1 substance at the federal level, the same schedule as drugs like heroin and cocaine. With the legalization of recreational use of cannabis in Massachusetts, residents can possess up to 10 ounces in the home without penalty.