Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Michael Dresser
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA HEARINGS REFLECT A SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION

An NAACP leader, a former Maryland State Police major, a candidate 
for governor and a mother seeking to help her son with epilepsy 
converged Thursday on Annapolis to support more liberal marijuana laws.

A number of bills, backed by lawmakers from a range of philosophical 
backgrounds, are moving through the General Assembly this year as a 
broader swath of the electorate has embraced legalizing or 
decriminalizing the drug.

Roughly 100 people rallied Thursday outside the State House to show 
support for a Colorado-style system to legalize marijuana, an idea 
that got a hearing later in the day. Also Thursday, a key committee 
approved a bill to loosen restrictions that some say have hampered 
the state's nascent medical marijuana program.

Meanwhile, a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of 
marijuana got a hearing in the House and is expected to pass the 
Senate today. And Maryland's state's attorneys backed an alternative 
proposal Thursday to divert first-time marijuana offenders into 
education or treatment programs rather than prosecuting them.

"People's minds change, and we're seeing this in public opinion polls 
throughout this state," said Del. Heather R. Mizeur of Montgomery 
County, who has made legalization, regulation and taxation of 
marijuana a central issue in her race for the Democratic nomination 
for governor.

But many of the proposals still face uncertain futures at best. 
Supporters of traditional drug enforcement also turned out in force 
in Annapolis - many of them police chiefs and sheriffs in uniform.

Legislation to legalize and decriminalize marijuana are not likely to 
pass both chambers.

Del. Kevin Kelly, an Allegany County Democrat, said he had heard that 
one out of six people who try marijuana before 15 develops a 
substance-abuse problem. "You're ruining their life, he said. 
"They're going to be selling this all over the place."

A recent Baltimore Sun Poll showed that 58 percent of Marylanders 
favor a shift away from criminal penalties for marijuana possession, 
but they are split on how to do it. While 28 percent think possession 
should be decriminalized - that is, treated like a traffic ticket - 
30 percent think it should be legalized and taxed.

The group at the rally on Lawyers Mall included young and old, 
regular marijuana users and abstainers. Among them was Elizabeth Yun 
of Greenbelt, who carried a sign with pictures of her 9-year-old son 
Julius. She said her research has led her to believe that a 
non-psychoactive but still illegal form of cannabis could help ease 
her son's epileptic seizures.

Lawmakers say they are intent on improving upon a medical marijuana 
bill approved last year. That law allowed medical marijuana for 
patients suffering from certain painful, chronic conditions but 
restricted the program to academic medical centers - none of which 
agreed to participate.

A House committee approved a bill Thursday allowing more physicians 
to prescribe marijuana, while a Senate panel deferred action on a 
similar proposal.

Mizeur told those at the rally that this could be a year for 
meaningful progress. Not many years ago, Mizeur's proposal to 
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana would have 
been seen as an idea from the political left fringe. Yet her bill has 
more than 40 co-sponsors, including two of the House's most 
conservative Republicans.

She also acknowledged, however, that the legal distribution of 
marijuana in Maryland could be at least a year away.

"It's likely to take an election and a mandate from voters to change 
old ways of thinking in Annapolis," she said. "This year medical 
marijuana seems like the easy thing to do. Decriminalization seems 
like the middle path."

While the Senate passed a decriminalization bill last year, the House 
- - led by Speaker Michael E. Busch - has remained resistant.

Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat and 
leading Busch ally, has sponsored the bill that would require each 
county to set up diversion programs for first-time offenders. While 
she said she believed marijuana would eventually be legal, Jones 
presented the bill as a prudent alternative.

"I feel we need to be cautious, take a breath and not rush to 
judgment," she said at a hearing.

Proponents of legalizing marijuana, including Baltimore Democratic 
Del. Curt Anderson, said Maryland wastes law enforcement resources on 
a drug that is less dangerous than alcohol. The current policy leaves 
many young people with arrest records that hold them back in life, they argued.

The Rev. S. Todd Yeary, political action director of the state NAACP, 
said that "the longer we wait, the more pernicious this becomes." 
Yeary, pastor of Baltimore's Douglas Memorial Community Church, urged 
delegates to "dismantle the failed 40-year-plus war on drugs in this state."

Legalization supporters argued that a state-regulated distribution 
system would take the business out of the hands of criminals and 
provide an environment for consumers to purchase marijuana without 
being exposed to more dangerous drugs.

But opponents, including police and prosecutors, expressed doubt that 
legalization would crowd out criminal gangs.

Frederick County State Attorney J. Charles Smith III, representing 
the state's prosecutors, said drug cartels would fight to retain a 
market niche. In Colorado, he said, "they see organized crime already 
infiltrating legal distribution outlets."

Smith's opposition was buttressed by other police witnesses, who 
warned that decriminalization and legalization would lead to a many 
more deadly accidents caused by drivers under the influence of marijuana.

But Neill Franklin, a former Maryland State Police major who has 
turned against the war on drugs, said some law enforcement officials 
back the status quo because they are protecting their turf. "I get it 
- - why police don't want to lose marijuana as a pretext to search," 
Franklin said. Enforcing marijuana laws, he said, "has become our 
identity. It's what we do."

Though he said he supports decriminalization, Montgomery County 
Democrat Luiz R.S. Simmons challenged Mizeur's assertion that 
Maryland could save $280 million in law enforcement costs by 
decriminalizing marijuana.

Simmons argued that most marijuana arrests are incidental to other 
violations. He said police seldom set out to catch people for simple 
marijuana possession violations. And recent changes to state law have 
sharply reduced the number of prosecutions, Simmons said.

"This is a huge exaggeration being made about Maryland. People are 
not going to jail for simple possession in Maryland," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom