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Democrat Gov. Wes Moore has signed legislation (SB 432) into law requiring state officials to automatically shield from public view the records associated with past, low-level marijuana convictions.
The law stipulates that the Maryland Judiciary Case Search database may no longer “in any way refer to the existence of records of a charge of possession of cannabis in a case with electronic records if the charge resulted in a conviction that was later pardoned by the Governor.” It also expands the range of offenses eligible for expungement relief once a person has completed their sentence.
Last year, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order pardoning over 175,000 Maryland residents with misdemeanor marijuana-related convictions. Pardons, which may be issued by the executive branch, forgive past crimes, but they do not shield records of those crimes from public view or expunge them.
Maryland legalized the adult use cannabis market in 2023.
“The legislation signed today strengthens the Moore-Miller Administration’s all-of-the-above approach to public safety while creating pathways to work, wages, and wealth for rehabilitated Marylanders,” the administration stated in a press release.
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano praised the administration for prioritizing the issue. “Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” he said. “Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that elected officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”
According to publicly available data compiled by NORML, elected officials and courts nationwide have issued over 350,000 marijuana-related pardons and more than two million marijuana-related expungements since 2018.
Separate marijuana-related legislation increasing the state’s special sales tax on adult-use cannabis purchases was included in the state’s budget bill and approved by lawmakers on the final day of the 2025 legislative session.
Are you among the tens of thousands of reform advocates who have contacted their elected officials this year? A state-by-state guide to pending marijuana legislation and NORML action alerts is available from NORML’s Take Action Center.
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