Gov. Maura Healey has officially pardoned tens of thousands of people convicted in Massachusetts for simple possession of marijuana.
The governor's council unanimously approved the pardons Wednesday, Healey announced.
"Massachusetts made history today. I'm grateful to the Governor's Council for their due diligence in approving my request to pardon all state misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions," Healey said in a statement. "Thousands of Massachusetts residents will now see their records cleared of this charge, which will help lower the barriers they face when seeking housing, education or a job."
The pardon takes effect immediately, Healey said. Massachusetts is working to update records, but also put up an application for pardon certificates on its website.
The governor issued the sweeping pardon last month, pending approval. She said at the time it would make Massachusetts "the first state to take action" since President Joe Biden pardoned federal cannabis possession convictions, calling on states to do the same.
"I want to thank President Biden for his leadership on this issue, and I'm proud that Massachusetts was able to answer his call to action in this momentous way," Healey said Wednesday. "I hope that other states will follow our lead as we work together to make our communities more equitable.
The council heard expert testimony on the matter at a hearing Wednesday afternoon. It voted unanimously later in the day to approve the plan.
The governor has said that most of the people receiving the pardon will not have to take any action themselves, and anyone can request to receive a certificate attesting to their pardon.
"The reason we do this is simple, justice requires it," Healey has said said. "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 getting jobs, housing, even getting an education. For some it's simply more than that, a difficult memory, a burden, something they live with every day. all for doing something that isn't' even cause for arrest today."
She said it wasn't fair, and that the pardon will reduce disparities in the criminal justice system.
According to a report by the Cannabis Control Commission, the panel charged with administering the legal cannabis market in Massachusetts, there were close to 69,000 civil or criminal violations for marijuana possession issued in Massachusetts from 2000 through 2013.
The announcement came roughly eight years after the drug was approved for recreational use in the Bay State. In the years since, a bustling legal pot industry has sprouted up in Massachusetts, even as the drug remains illegal at the federal level.
In December, President Joe Biden pardoned thousands of people who had been convicted of the use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia.
The White House said at the time that Biden round of executive clemencies was meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system. Biden had said his actions would help make the “promise of equal justice a reality.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
