Op-ed: Physician anesthesiologists can help fight opioid abuse. The opioid dilemma puts pressure on every physician to pause and reflect. Physician anesthesiologists are dedicated to providing pain relief in the safest manner possible, which includes prescribing and managing opioid therapy when medical conditions warrant. What we face now is too many tragic instances of patients emerging from pain treatment regimens only to see their lives destroyed later through addiction. Opioids include illegal heroin and prescription "pain killers" such as oxycodone, and the impact of these drugs is clear in Maryland and elsewhere. The numbers of opioid-related deaths statewide increased 23 percent between 2014 and 2015, and have more than doubled since 2010, according to the latest Maryland health department report released this fall. [continues 676 words]
[photo] SAFED, ISRAEL -- A worker at a cannabis greenhouse at the growing facility of the Tikun Olam company near the northern city of Safed, Israel. (Uriel Sinai / Baltimore Sun) Two Silver Spring-based entrepreneurs said Monday they hope to open a medical marijuana growing and processing plant in Baltimore. Healthy Choice Alternative LLC is in the process of applying for one of up to 15 cultivation licenses as well as a processors license from the state under Maryland's medical marijuana program, an attorney for the company said. [continues 558 words]
[photo] Bruce Brandler is chief federal law enforcement officer for a sprawling judicial district that covers half of Pennsylvania. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press) The phone at Bruce Brandler's home rang at 3:37 a.m. It was the local hospital. His 16-year-old son was there, and he was in really bad shape. A suspected heroin overdose, the nurse said. Brandler didn't believe it. Erik had his problems, but heroin? It seemed impossible. Nearly 10 years later, the nation is gripped by a spiraling crisis of opioid and heroin abuse -- and Brandler, a veteran federal prosecutor recently promoted to interim U.S. attorney, suddenly finds himself in a position to do something about the scourge that claimed his youngest son's life. [continues 778 words]
[photo] Del. Curt Anderson (D - Baltimore City, Dist. 43) explains why he thinks Maryland should legalize marijuana. (Timothy Wheeler/Baltimore Sun) In a year when budget cuts dominate debate in Annapolis, advocates for legalizing marijuana are mounting a renewed effort to get Maryland to follow the lead of Colorado and Washington state - if not now, then in a year or two. A Colorado state legislator and an elected official from Seattle joined legalization supporters at a press conference in Annapolis Friday to say that voter-passed initiatives in their states are proceeding more or less smoothly to treat recreational use of cannabis much like another legal but regulated substance, alcohol. [continues 542 words]
[photo] Maryland's medical marijuana program cleared a key hurdle Thursday as a state panel approved draft rules to govern the new businesses. (Erin Cox/Baltimore Sun) Maryland's medical marijuana program cleared a key hurdle Thursday as a state panel approved draft rules to govern the new businesses. The medical marijuana commission set license fees for growers and dispensaries -- at rates among the highest in the country -- and developed rules for patients to obtain the drug in either a smokable or liquid form, among other new regulations. [continues 858 words]
Professor Shad Ewart is teaching a course on emerging markets in relation to marijuana legalization and entrepreneurial pursuits at Anne Arundel Community College. Start stoner-friendly munchies stands in Colorado. Or open a lounge near a marijuana dispensary in Oregon. Or try selling fertilizer to weed growers, dude. "Opportunities are endless, whatever we can create in our heads," said Dean Warner, an Anne Arundel Community College student. The college launched Monday a class exploring business opportunities around the country's expanding marijuana market. [continues 552 words]
Among Baltimore residents, 68 percent said they had been affected by opioid epidemic. A new poll found 41 percent of Maryland residents said the escalating opioid epidemic has directly affected them or someone they know over the past five years. Another 42 percent who participated in the Gonzales Poll said they had not personally felt the impact of the deadly wave of heroin and other overdoses that has swept through urban and rural parts of Maryland. Seventeen percent gave no response. Among Baltimore city residents, 68 percent said they had been affected -- far more than anywhere else in Maryland. [continues 85 words]
Drug-overdose deaths surged to new levels in Maryland during the first nine months of 2016, far surpassing the total for all of the previous year as fatalities related to heroin and fentanyl use increased sharply. The state health department reported Thursday that the number of overdose deaths for January through September climbed to 1,468, a 62aE percent jump compared with the same period in 2015, and the sixth straight year that the figure has risen. The total for the first three quarters of 2016 exceeded the overall sum for the previous year by nearly 17aE percent. [continues 701 words]
[photo] Police in Harford County seized two kilos of heroin during a traffic stop in Havre de Grace on Thursday, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. A Virginia man faces multiple drug possession and distribution charges. (Harford County Sheriff's Office / Baltimore Sun) Police in Harford County seized two kilograms of heroin and arrested a Portsmouth, Va., man on drug charges, during a traffic stop in Havre de Grace, the Harford County Sheriff's Office said. The investigation by the Harford County Task force that led to the arrest of Servonte Rhamone Smith, 26, is continuing in an attempt to locate other suspects in what detectives believe is a heroin trafficking organization that has been operating in Harford County, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. [continues 516 words]
The "kingpin" of drug trafficking organization was sentenced to 25 years in prison, prosecutors say. The "kingpin" of a drug trafficking organization that operated throughout the Baltimore region was sentenced to more than two decades in prison on drug-related charges in Baltimore County, authorities said. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert Cahill, Jr. on Thursday sentenced Charles Davenport, 29, to 40 years, with all but 25 years suspended, for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine, possession with the intent to distribute heroin, and possession of large amounts of heroin, the Attorney General's office said. [continues 134 words]
AltPharm, a Laurel-based medical marijuana dispensary, has received its state pre-approval license to operate in the National Harbor area of Prince George's County, opening as early as summer 2017. AltPharm spokeswoman Martha Heil said the license will allow the company to sell medical marijuana in state legislative District 26, which includes Fort Washington, Oxon Hill and Accokeek. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission approved preliminary licenses for 102 dispensaries statewide in November and revealed their selections on Dec. 9. Ten of the dispensary licenses went to companies that already had preliminary licenses to grow the drug. [continues 591 words]
Pharmaceutical distributor settles claims it failed to report suspicious orders from Maryland, elsewhere One of the nation's largest pharmaceutical distributors has agreed to pay $44 million to resolve federal claims that it did not report suspicious orders of the prescription painkiller oxycodone from pharmacies in Maryland, Florida and New York. Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc.'s civil settlement is one of the largest ever in a drug diversion case, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The settlement comes as federal law enforcement works to curb a stubborn opioid epidemic that was linked to almost 1,100 overdose deaths in Maryland last year. More than 350 were linked directly to prescription painkillers. [continues 637 words]
Medical marijuana could finally become a reality next year in Maryland, one of the states slowest to make the drug available for purchase after legalizing sales. In 2016, regulators awarded long-awaited licenses to grow, process and sell cannabis while grappling with fallout from those shut out of the potentially lucrative industry. Now selected businesses are racing to set up facilities and pass final inspections so the first seeds can be planted and flowers can hit the shelves by the end of 2017, four years after lawmakers legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. [continues 1079 words]
Maryland patients are several months away from being able to legally obtain medical cannabis to treat chronic conditions. But scammers are already trying to make a buck off of patients desperate for the relief they seek from the drug, according to regulators and industry officials. There are reports that companies are selling "marijuana cards" or offering exams to "preapprove" patients for medical cannabis. Neither is a legitimate practice, officials say. "They are telling patients that they have the ability to preapprove them for the medical cannabis program, and that is a lie," said Darrell Carrington, executive director of the Maryland Cannabis Industry Association. "There is no such thing as preapproval." [continues 512 words]
Medical marijuana could finally become a reality next year in Maryland, one of the states slowest to make the drug available for purchase after legalizing sales. In 2016, regulators awarded long-awaited licenses to grow, process and sell cannabis while grappling with fallout from those shut out of the potentially lucrative industry. Now selected businesses are racing to set up facilities and pass final inspections so the first seeds can be planted and flowers can hit the shelves by the end of 2017, four years after lawmakers legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. [continues 1023 words]
[photo] County police have tracked the location of opiod overdoses and fatalities in 2016. (Anne Arundel County Police Department) Heroin overdoses reach new high in Annapolis, Anne Arundel. With less than one month left in 2016, the number of people killed by heroin and opioid overdoses in Annapolis and Anne Arundel has surpassed that of the past two years combined. County police Chief Timothy Altomare provided the latest overdose numbers during a phone interview Friday morning. While Altomare touted County Executive Steve Schuh's multifaceted approach to combating heroin by using public health and educational resources in addition to law enforcement, the police chief conceded that the drug continues to pose a significant challenge in the county. [continues 1070 words]
Our view: Legislators should investigate apparent inconsistency in medical marijuana commission's criteria for who gets grower licenses When the General Assembly legalized medical marijuana in Maryland, it required the commission running the program to "actively seek to achieve racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity when licensing medical marijuana growers." But the attorney general's office advised the commission that, absent a study documenting racial disparities in the medical cannabis industry, creating racial and ethnic preferences was unconstitutional. As a result, the regulations the commission adopted make no mention of racial diversity. [continues 919 words]
Medical Marijuana Panel Leaders Set Meeting With AG on Minority Dispensers Leaders of the state's medical marijuana commission are meeting with Attorney General Brian E. Frosh next week to figure out how to achieve more racial diversity when the panel awards licenses to companies to dispense the drug. The Medical Cannabis Commission has come under scrutiny because most of the 30 companies to which it has awarded preliminary licenses to grow or process marijuana are led by white men. None of the companies that won lucrative licenses in the state's fledgling industry are led by African-Americans. About a third of the state's population is African-American. [continues 488 words]
Its frustrating to see our County Commissioners' behavior toward Maryland's Medical Cannabis Program. They seem to be operating with a Reefer Madness mentality, allowing their policymaking to be guided by distress and superstition rather than established facts and evidence. As a regulatory professional, I was fortunate enough to attend a Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission meeting at Johns Hopkins last year. One of the biggest takeaways for me was the seriousness and professionalism with which the individuals involved in designing this policy (almost all MDs and lawyers) treated the subject. This isn't about Jeff Spicoli, 420, some gateway drug or the Grateful Dead. This is about medicine, plain and simple. A much-needed, effective therapy for helping our most vulnerable patients - folks with chronic illnesses and terminal diseases including all forms of cancer, Parkinson's, MS, epilepsy, etc. Who in our community hasn't felt the impact of one of these devastating conditions? [continues 166 words]
No Black Businesses Received Licenses to Grow Medical Marijuana Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) have joined black state lawmakers in expressing dismay about the lack of diversity in Maryland's burgeoning medical-marijuana industry. At the same time, the head of the legislative black caucus is calling for legislation to ban elected officials from taking jobs in the industry. Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore), who was instrumental in passing the bill that legalized medical marijuana, said she's angry that another leader in that effort later joined a company seeking a license to grow, process and sell the drug, without publicly making clear his dual roles. [continues 752 words]
Inside Maryland
