Pubdate: Sun, 13 Apr 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Page: 20
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Authors: Mark Puente and Michael Dresser
Note: Kym Byrnes of the Baltimore Sun Media Group contributed to this
article.

READY, SET, GROW

Now that the state's medical marijuana program has been revived,
officials say it will take about 15 months for the first patients to
buy the drug legally in Maryland. Shannon Moore hopes her twin sons
survive.

Her 3-year-olds, Nicolas and Byron, already have lived longer than
expected while battling as many as 30 seizures a day from
Miller-Dieker syndrome, a disease that causes brain deformities. Moore
hopes a marijuana extract will reduce their seizures.

"The hardest part is feeling hopeless," the Frederick resident said.
"If you've done everything you could, it might not be enough."

Despite the General Assembly's actions last week in revamping the
stalled medical marijuana program and decriminalizing possession of 10
grams or less of pot, many questions remain unanswered about
implementing the laws. Doctors, growers and dispensaries are waiting
to learn the details of regulations that will govern the fledgling
medical marijuana industry. Police across the state are evaluating the
impact of the decriminalization measure on crime-fighting strategies,
and the statewide prosecutors organization has called for a veto by
Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Experiences in other states show that even after months of legislative
debate in Annapolis, Maryland could face unexpected twists. When
Colorado started its medical marijuana program, the electric company
needed bigger transformers to power the lights at indoor marijuana
farms, and growers found that they needed to put locks on trash bins
because people were trying to get discarded marijuana stems and buds.

Cheverly Police Chief Harry Robshaw, a member of Maryland's Medical
Marijuana Commission, faults lawmakers for not defining some key
issues better.

For example, the decriminalization measure does not specify whether
police can continue searching a suspect after finding marijuana
weighing 10 grams or less. Should they issue a citation on the spot
and leave? Or keep looking, in case the suspect has a much bigger supply?

"Nobody has the answer to that," Robshaw said. "That's what worries
law enforcement."

 From the outset, Maryland's medical marijuana program will have
tighter controls than the one California started 18 years ago.

California regulators have no control of the estimated $1 billion
industry and don't know how many growers or dispensaries operate. The
California Police Chiefs Association and other lobbying groups are
pushing for state oversight.

"It's chaotic and out of control," said Chula Vista Police Chief David
Bejarano, the association's first vice president. "Anyone can obtain a
recommendation for medical marijuana. There is no oversight or
protection to the patient."

Dr. Paul Davies, chairman of Maryland's Medical Marijuana Commission,
estimates that it will take until the third quarter of 2015 to
establish the network needed to put the drug in patients' hands. The
panel will develop and propose regulations by September, he said.

"We are actively putting a plan together," he said. "We're already on
it."

According to Davies, this is how Maryland will form the network: Once
the commission proposes the rules, they will be reviewed at several
levels, including by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene, the attorney general's office and a legislative oversight
committee. After an approval process of about four months, the
commission will take applications from physicians and prospective
growers and dispensers.

The legislation - which O'Malley has said he will sign into law -
calls for no more than 15 growers to be licensed in the first year but
gives the commission the discretion to add licenses later. Licenses
will be issued after a background check.

"We're hoping there will be strong interest among physicians," Davies
said, noting that there is likely to be strong demand for grower's
licenses.

The commission was set up as part of last year's medical marijuana
legislation, with 11 members drawn from fields such as medicine,
pharmacy, law enforcement and substance abuse treatment. The revamped
law expands the number to 14.

J. Darrell Carrington, lobbyist for an Anne Arundel County company
that is interested in seeking a grower's license, expects significant
competition for the permits - and not just from folks with a few acres
and an interest in recreational marijuana.

"These are apples and oranges," he said. "We are looking to make
medicine for people."

Carrington, who represents CFB Consulting in Pasadena, said that means
growers will need secure, sterile, indoor facilities and will have to
have extensive testing done by independent laboratories.

In Colorado, it's common for growers to spend nearly $500,000 to enter
the business, according to the Marijuana Industry Group, which
represents growers and patients in the state. The high costs come from
the required seed-to-sale tracking system, video surveillance and
irrigation networks, said Mike Elliott, the executive director.

"This is an extremely difficult business to be a part of," he said.
"If you screw up, you can end up in prison."

Del. Dan K. Morhaim, sponsor of the Maryland medical marijuana
legislation and the General Assembly's only physician, predicted that
doctors would gradually gain interest in obtaining licenses to
recommend marijuana for patients.

Morhaim, who specializes in emergency and internal medicine, predicts
that initial interest will come from specialties such as pain
management, neurology, oncology, orthopedics and rheumatology. He says
he hopes the commission will move quickly because patients are
suffering without the drug.

"I think it should be done with as few delays as possible, as
responsibly as possible," the Baltimore County Democrat said. "There's
no reason you can't do both."

Tyler Kutner, 20, who uses marijuana to treat muscle spasticity caused
by cerebral palsy, plans to enroll in the medical marijuana program.

"I'm cautiously excited," said Kutner, who lives in College Park. "I
live in chronic pain."

Gail Rand of Annapolis, another parent who wants to use medical
marijuana for a child, is concerned about rules that limit access to
the drug. She was happy that the program was broadened - the state
previously had focused on academic medical centers - but would like
patients to be able to get more than a 30-day supply of the drug at a
time.

"When parents of a special-needs child have to pick up medicine every
30 days, it can be quite challenging," said Rand, whose 4-year-old
son, Logan, suffers up to 10 seizures a day because of epilepsy. "I
don't know right away where the closest dispensary will be. We can't
just go to the local CVS."

Meanwhile, police departments across Maryland will have to adjust to
enforcing the decriminalization measure.

When it is no longer a criminal offense to possess small amounts of
marijuana - the law would take effect Oct.1 - Maryland residents
should not expect a wave of police officers to suddenly shift toward
more violent crimes. In today's war on drugs, recreational users are
not targeted by vice, narcotics and street cops, police said.

"It's too early to tell" how the law will affect policing, said Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Baltimore's Police Department did not
respond to requests for comment.

"It really won't change our strategy from a crime-fighting
standpoint," said Lt. T.J. Smith, spokesman for Anne Arundel County
police. "It just changes the citation."

The Maryland State's Attorney's Association voted Thursday to ask
O'Malley to veto the legislation, saying it would create too many
problems for police officers.

Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger, the group's
first vice president, questions how police would handle drug-free
school zones. And he wonders what would happen when police issue civil
citations for marijuana possession and arrest the same people with
drug paraphernalia such as crack pipes.

"We feel we could do a little better next year," Shellenberger said of
asking for a delay.

A spokeswoman for O'Malley, a former prosecutor, declined to comment
at length on the association's request but said the governor still
plans to sign the decriminalization measure.

Mark Cheshire, a spokesman for the Baltimore state's attorney's
office, said he expects that caseloads will drop for prosecutors who
handle the diversion program for low-risk offenders. That program
offers people charged with marijuana possession a chance to avoid
conviction through community service. Nearly 4,500 people went into
the program last year, up from about 1,400 the year before.

The decriminalization measure's biggest change centers on how police
cite offenders. Currently in Maryland, marijuana possession is a
misdemeanor that carries a maximum 90-day jail term. Under the new
law, adults found with less than 10 grams of pot would get a civil
citation and pay a fine; they would no longer be sent to jail.

Peter Moskos, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in New York, said the new law will not make streets
safer.

"People aren't shooting each other in East Baltimore over small
amounts of marijuana," said Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer.
"Cities have [decriminalized marijuana] for decades. It's had no impact."

Still, proponents of decriminalization consider passage a victory.
They hope the measure will eliminate disparities for black males, who
are twice as likely to be prosecuted for marijuana possession as white
males.

The legislation won't alter decades-old police tactics, officials
said. Drug-sniffing dogs are not being retired. Finding small amounts
of marijuana is often a doorway to bigger investigations and a way for
police to search for evidence of other crimes.

Robshaw plans to order his officers who come across marijuana to keep
searching if they find probable cause. If they find 10 grams or less,
"the civil citation should be the last step," the Cheverly police chief said.

He'll make another change: issuing scales to officers so they can
determine whether small amounts of marijuana fall under the 10-gram
limit. Still, Robshaw expects immediate court challenges to the law,
including in cases in which officers find evidence or contraband after
issuing a civil infraction.

One proponent of decriminalization said the greatest impact would be
on the "collateral consequences" for people who have criminal
convictions under the current law.

Years-old arrest records have blocked offenders from getting jobs or
student loans, said Rachelle Yeung of the Marijuana Policy Project.
"It's a lot more harmful than the substance itself," she said.

Now, fewer people will carry the stigma of a drug arrest, she added,
and they will find it easier to get hired by employers.

Kym Byrnes of the Baltimore Sun Media Group contributed to this
article.  
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