Big change came to the state Saturday — not only with the legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis, but also with shifting criminal justice policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income Marylanders.
In the spirit of ending the prohibition equitably, Maryland lawmakers put new laws in place over the past two years to aid people with the process of expunging cannabis charges and convictions from their records, and limited the circumstances for police to execute traffic stops based on the odor of cannabis.
Starting Jan. 1, people incarcerated for cannabis possession were able to begin applying for resentencing hearings. If they are serving time in jail only for marijuana charges, judges are required to resentence them to time served and release them.
Under the same bill, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is required to expunge all cases where an individual was only charged with cannabis possession before July 1, 2023. All of these records are to be expunged by July 1, 2024.
“It makes sense from a restorative justice standpoint to have that automatic expungement applied,” said Elizabeth Hilliard, the acting director of government relations at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. “We know, certainly, that having a criminal charge on your record can lead to either complications or barriers for employment, education, housing, financially, and so we certainly applaud the General Assembly’s decision to provide that expungement.”
Additionally, people convicted of possession with the intent to distribute cannabis can file to have their records expunged three years after they have completed their sentence, including parole, probation, or mandatory supervision.
Also, the Maryland Judiciary Case Search will no longer display criminal cases where marijuana possession is the only charge.
The fee to file a petition for record expungement in cases where an individual was found guilty is $30. The jurisdiction’s state’s attorney has 30 days to object all petitions. If there is no objection, agencies have 60 days to expunge any records. The filer will receive a certificate of compliance in the mail once the process is completed.
“I think that anytime that we give someone an opportunity to move beyond past behavior or move beyond past … negative decision making or impulsive decision making is certainly a step in the right direction,” Hilliard said. “I know we’re very excited and glad that expungement and resentencing and other avenues for relief in that sense are being incorporated into legalization.”
People who have faced possession charges and convictions also are eligible to try their hand at entering the state’s burgeoning industry as a licensed grower or retailer — the regulatory bill passed earlier this year explicitly says that applications can’t be denied based on cannabis-related offenses that occurred before Saturday.
However, the businesses that opened Saturday were preexisting medical cannabis dispensaries, most of which converted their licenses for recreational sales. The next round of licenses will go to applicants who lived or attended school in disproportionately impacted communities, or areas that had more than 150% of the state’s 10-year average for cannabis possession charges. Those licenses will be issued by Jan. 1.
Also as of Saturday, police officers are no longer allowed to conduct traffic stops and searches based solely on the odor of cannabis. This law will not prohibit police from conducting traffic stops based on other justified reasons, like erratic driving or speeding, and will allow officers to question drivers based on signs of impairment, but not on the scent of burned or unburnt cannabis, alone.
Adults 21 and over now are permitted to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis.
“Black Marylanders should be able to feel confident that marijuana is legal for them to use, too, and not to still be subjected to racial profiling by police for using a legal substance,” said Dawn Dalton, a leader with the Maryland Coalition for Justice and Police Accountability, in a statement.
Ahead of Saturday’s end to marijuana prohibition, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland sent letters to police departments statewide to ensure all officers are aware of the changing law.
Dana Vickers Shelley, the executive director of the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement that the letter was sent in hopes that every agencies’ “practices and procedures around marijuana are updated to reflect changes in the law — the ultimate will of the people.”
“Black and Brown Marylanders need to be assured that they will not be wrongfully stopped and searched based on the alleged smell of a substance they have been told is legal in Maryland,” Vickers Shelley said.
The bill making this policy a reality passed out of the General Assembly in the eleventh hour, hitting Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s desk minutes ahead of the legislature’s midnight deadline on the last day of the 2023 legislative session.
But Moore didn’t sign the bill. It was one of the 10 laws he let go into effect without his signature.
In an interview with The Baltimore Sun last week, the governor said that he agrees with the basis and premise of the policy but had concerns about making sure that his administration continued to “wrap our arms around some of the challenges that law enforcement is continuing to see” in regard to enforcement — his reason for withholding his signature.
Though Marylanders have yet to see how this new law will play out in the field, many considered its passage one of several wins for those who have been historically over-policed for cannabis possession.
During the 2022 legislative session, the General Assembly passed the first bill to provide a framework for a state policy on cannabis, which was enacted after Maryland voters overwhelmingly approved legalization during the 2022 general election.
A pivotal piece of that bill surrounded record expungement and resentencing.
Moore said that expungement and inclusion in the industry was an important factor in the 2023 bill.
“We tried to be very intentional in our approach to say that you cannot talk about the benefits of legalization if you’re not also addressing the consequences of criminalization and making sure those two things are happening simultaneously,” he said.
