Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Aaron Gregg and Fenit Nirappil

DELAYS FRUSTRATE BACKERS OF POT

MD. Still Hasn't Issued Licenses

Panel Limits Processors of Medical Marijuana

Maryland's state medical marijuana commission delivered a blow to 
marijuana advocates and would-be entrepreneurs last week by abruptly 
capping the number of businesses that can process marijuana into 
pills, oils and other products.

The commission also gave conflicting information about when the first 
long-awaited growing licenses would be issued, with Executive 
Director Patrick Jameson first saying it would be late summer or 
early fall, then stating that licenses would come "weeks" after the 
evaluations of the applications are completed in early July.

At the commission's first public meeting in months, marijuana 
advocates and entrepreneurs complained about the slow pace and the 
secrecy of the process.

"We have been waiting patiently for the commission to do its work, 
but every day is a challenge when you're watching your child seize, 
fall behind in school and lose ground," said Jennifer Porcari, who 
has fought for years for access to medical cannabis to treat her 
child's epilepsy. "We ask you to remember that the work of this 
commission is to help Marylanders and children like our daughter."

An analysis by the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project found 
Maryland to be among the slowest states to get its approved cannabis 
program up and running. The commission was supposed to start awarding 
licenses to grow marijuana for medical use in January. But the 
commission received applications from twice as many businesses as it 
anticipated, and the timetable has changed several times. Executive 
Director Hannah Byron abruptly announced her resignation in December 
and wasn't replaced until this month.

The commission, which declined to comment on its pace, has extended 
by four months its contract with the Regional Economics Studies 
Institute at Towson University, which is managing a committee of two 
dozen evaluators that is reviewing and scoring the applications. 
Records show that the cost of the contract has quadrupled, to more 
than $2 million.

Towson is expected to deliver scored applications in July to the 
15-person commission, which has the final say in who gets licenses. 
Given the time needed to grow and process cannabis, medical marijuana 
probably will not be available in the state until the summer of 2017.

The delays are costing businesses money, entrepreneurs and their 
allies said. "There are applicants who have lost financing; there are 
applicants who have lost options on leases; there are applicants who 
are paying mortgages on buildings that they acquired with an 
expectation originally of [licenses being awarded in] January," said 
Terrence McAndrews, an Ellicott City attorney.

The commission voted last week to limit the number of processors to 
15. The change was suggested by commission member Harry Robshaw III, 
police chief in the Prince George's County town of Cheverly, and 
adopted unanimously after minimal discussion. State law already 
limited the number of growing licenses to 15.

Robshaw said the cap on processors would make it easier for 
regulators to carry out inspections and could be lifted later as the 
industry matures.

But it also means businesses that win licenses to grow but not 
process marijuana could have to pay another company for something 
they had initially planned to handle in-house. Several applicants 
complained that restricting licenses for processors would make it 
harder to track cannabis from seed to sale, a unique provision built 
into Maryland's law and designed to protect patients by cutting down 
on tampering and diversion of the product.

"There's a concern that this was done arbitrarily, long after the 
applications have been submitted," said Kate Bell, an analyst with 
the Marijuana Policy Project who attended the packed commission 
meeting at the University of Maryland's medical school last week. 
"It's not clear to me what the basis is for imposing this limit."

The intentionally opaque evaluation process has left some advocates 
and entrepreneurs asking for more clarity, with one demanding a 
public schedule showing when regulators meet behind closed doors.

The commission appointed experts in subjects including horticulture 
and medicine to review and score the applications. The process is 
double-blind, meaning all names are redacted from the materials that 
experts review, and the identities of those experts are kept secret. 
Towson says the subject-matter experts submitted resumes and signed 
affidavits saying they had no relationships to Maryland applicants 
before they were selected.

In public comments last week, numerous applicants demanded more 
transparency from the commission.

Angeline Nanni, chief executive of prospective grower CannaMED 
Pharmaceuticals, said making the evaluation process more public would 
"negate any type of behind-closed-doors selection irregularities and 
possibly prevent post-selection litigation."

Commission chair Paul Davies said the group has set up a task force 
and plans a meeting in July to clarify portions of the process.

There were also complaints that Jameson, the commission's new 
executive director, and a top Towson official involved in the 
marijuana-license contract discussed the program this month before a 
small group at the Center Club, the Baltimore dining club frequented 
by Maryland's business elite.

Center Club President David Nevins organized a roundtable discussion 
with the Towson official and a grower applicant who is represented by 
Nevins's public relations firm.

"We believe [this is] not only a conflict of interest but will quite 
possibly compromise the integrity of this application process," said 
Scott Williams, who described himself as a consultant working with 
more than one applicant.

Daraius Irani, the Towson official who appeared with Jameson, said 
his remarks were reviewed by the state attorney general's office and 
that he is not directly involved in evaluating applications.

Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County), who was instrumental in 
passing medical marijuana laws and attended the Center Club event, 
said he "didn't realize it would be controversial. I'll go to any 
meeting where there's an opportunity to talk about [medical 
marijuana] and change minds."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom