The governor of Pennsylvania has issued 2,540 pardons during his tenure, and at least a quarter of those were for people with prior marijuana convictions, his office announced on Thursday.
As Gov. Tom Wolf (D) prepares for the end of his tenure next week, he’s touting his record as the governor who has granted the most clemency in the state’s history—with 369 pardons this week alone.
Wolf’s clemency total includes 232 people who qualified for relief under a cannabis-specific pardon program that the state facilitated late last year, as well as another 395 that were part of a separate expedited review process for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
“I have taken this process very seriously—reviewing and giving careful thought to each and every one of these 2,540 pardons and the lives they will impact,” Wolf said in a press release.”Every single one of the Pennsylvanians who made it through the process truly deserves their second chance, and it’s been my honor to grant it.”
“A record prevents positive forward motion in a person’s life, and can spark a repetitive cycle of defeat,” he said. “I firmly believe that with restored rights, pardoned Pennsylvanians prove themselves by stepping up and giving back to our communities.”
While Wolf is touting the cannabis pardon project, advocates were left disappointed that only a few hundred of the more than 3,000 clemency applications submitted during the one-month window for the effort were approved…
