Baltimore will longer prosecute marijuana possession cases

BALTIMORE — The state’s attorney in Baltimore says her office will no longer prosecute any marijuana possession cases, regardless of the quantity of the drug or an individual’s prior criminal record.

Marilyn Mosby says pot possession cases have no public safety value, waste money, and disproportionately impact communities of color. She says “no one who is serious about public safety can honestly say that spending resources to jail people for marijuana use is a smart way to use our limited time and money.”

Mosby says her office will still go after dealers and traffickers by prosecuting marijuana distribution cases.

But she says her office is seeking to vacate some 5,000 prior marijuana possession convictions dating to 2011. She says jailing people for marijuana possession is an “ongoing moral failure.”