Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced this month that she’s issuing blanket pardons for residents with misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions. The Democrat is sending the proposal to her Governor’s Council, the eight-member body that advises her on pardons, commutations, judicial appointments, and other issues. Fellow Democrat Tara Jacobs of North Adams represents the 8th district, which covers much of Western Massachusetts. She tells WAMC that she’s eager to approve the pardons, and that she hopes Healey will go much further in forgiving other past marijuana-related convictions.
JACOBS: Governor Healey has requested of council that we approve a blanket pardon for misdemeanor simple marijuana possession charges that effectively will wipe those remnants of the war on drugs off the records of people who this may have been impacting, going back pre-2008, when, especially communities, black and brown communities were unfairly, disproportionately impacted by those kinds of charges.
WAMC: What kind of impact can a marijuana possession charge have on someone's life?
I think there's probably a longer list than what I'm going to share right here, but there's a couple of things that it can affect have an impact on- One being certain areas of education and employment, getting certification, things like becoming a nurse or other healthcare career paths. There have been impacts in the past that I think, to some degree, have moderated more recently, but an ability to get a student loan, and then on the back end, employment and housing opportunities have been impacted. And so, for anyone who is still feeling the impact of what to a large degree was an injustice in their life, this will help clear the way for more opportunities and hopefully a better life.
Now, do you see this kind of burden of charges like marijuana possession impacting the lives of folks you represent in the in the 8th District of the Governor's Council?
Absolutely. I honestly- I, this past weekend, I marched in the in the Holyoke St. Patty's Day Parade and interacted with a number of people who are so happy that the governor has sent to us this request for these blanket pardons because their lives have been impacted, and their family members. And so, I heard lots of stories, including from one of our Western Mass state senators. Senator Adam Gomez was telling me a personal story of how this has impacted him and his family, and he's so happy that this pardon request has been made, because it will really be a second chance and justice provided to communities that really were impacted.
I feel like folks can maybe infer this from the enthusiasm in your voice, but what are your own thoughts on this proposal? Do you anticipate supporting it when the council takes it up for discussion?
You know, to me, this is one step, a first step – and I hope there'll be more that go even further – but it's a step in the right direction in course-correcting some of the systemic injustice in our in our system that have negatively impacted marginalized communities, and taking this step is, first off, a signal of this administration's intention to use clemency to course-correct and offer second chances, and I'm nothing but supportive of that. So, you're correct in hearing there’s enthusiasm in my voice, because I do support this effort and I do hope that it will be the first in in more come.
Now, when you envision more to come, what does that look like?
So, blanket pardons are not something that happened very frequently. So, I don't know if there'll be more of this kind of clemency work. Although if there were, I could foresee next steps being to erase some of the other marijuana-related charges that people might have. This is just for simple possession, but there's people who still have in their record intent to distribute or simple possession in a school zone. You could go further. You know, there's other ways to clean the slate from some of this marijuana-based charges that go back a decade or more, but then also pardons and commutations generally are individualized. So, you know, that's what we had seen prior, were individual requests. So, I am hopeful that we will see those come through in a steady stream and continuing numbers.
Now, have you been lobbied to oppose this at all? Is there an argument against this kind of blanket pardon for marijuana possession?
That's an interesting question. I personally have not. I've only had people – and a number of people – reach out to me very happy to have this opportunity to wipe the slate clean and supportive of it and sharing personal stories of how it's impacted them and why this is a great thing. I have not had anyone reach out to me to lobby against. There may well be an argument. I don't know what it would be, especially considering, first, in 2008 marijuana was decriminalized, and then I want to say 2016, 2017, or 2018, it was fully legalized in the state. So, no one who is currently serving time is impacted by this. It's all old records that are still proving to create a barrier of some kind to people's lives, and to me, it's only fair and really a signal of justice in our commonwealth.
Do you have a sense right now of how many people could be impacted by this?
I've heard varying numbers. It sounds like it could be anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 people out there. The process, from what I've heard, is this will be an automatic clean meaning of the slate. It's a process the courts will go through on the clerk side of going through records and identifying those who are eligible and providing this pardon in a way that really goes as far back as those records to clean.
Can you explain the difference between a pardon and an expungement? And do you have any sense of why the governor opted for pardons as opposed to expungement?
So, that's another interesting question. Expungement is an opt-in where you apply to have a record expunged. That was an available option made from the 2018 criminal reform bill that was passed into law by the Baker administration. And so, expungement of marijuana charges has been available since that time. However, and this is another thing people have called me about to share their personal experiences with it, it has turned out that the expungement process was both cumbersome, difficult to navigate, incredibly slow, and the kind of thing where if you weren't constantly keeping on top of it, it could easily fall through the cracks. And so, it just proved to be a very frustrating process. Whereas this is, the blanket pardon is supposed to work in a way where the courts will undertake to go through and literally scrub the records clean. And so, when you have a pardon, it's almost like it never happened. But they both are supposed to create a record clear of the charge so that it doesn't impede you when you're applying for a job or when you're applying for housing or applying for a loan or other thing.
Let's turn to the timeline here. We heard this proposal- It's March now, the governor had said this could take months, and obviously you, as a member of the Governor's Council, will be front row for whatever happens next. Tell us what is going to happen next, and when can folks expect to be impacted by these blanket pardons for marijuana possession?
Right. So, that's another good question. So, first step is Governor's Council has to approve the Governor's request for pardons, this blanket pardon. I am not yet aware of when we're going to schedule our Governor's Council work around this issue. So, I'm waiting to hear what the next steps will be for us. I would love for us to have a hearing at Governor's Council just to hear from those who will take the lead on the administration side in scrubbing these records to hear about the process. I'd also love to hear in a more official capacity from people whose lives have been impacted. I just think the public deserves to understand this as well as we do. So, I think that would be a good thing. I'm not certain that it will happen, but I have requested it. And then at some point thereafter, council will vote and I have a good deal of confidence that it will be a successful vote. I know a lot of us feel similarly that is the right step in the right direction. And then the months and months beyond that, that I think is talking more about the actual process of how the courts will do this work of administering the pardon. And that's part of what I'd like to understand better and hear commitment on a plan, and that's part of why I feel it would benefit us to have a hearing about it.
Lastly, do you have any concerns about this process? Are there any things that you are concerned might go wrong, or might somehow not have this output that you're that you're hoping for?
Well, that's why I'd like to have a hearing about it, just sort of holding people accountable, to hear that there is a plan, who's in charge of it, who's responsible for it, how they anticipate it will play out- Because I think it's a wonderful thing, but it only ultimately becomes a wonderful thing if it is executed successfully in a way that actually affects change for people's lives. And so [I] just to want to know that there's someone's hand on the steering wheel ultimately accountable for it, taking charge of the process and marshaling it through.
