Black Lawmakers Say Cannabis Licensees Lack Racial Diversity

The head of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland is asking the governor to intervene in the awarding of medical cannabis licenses because the selected companies lack diversity, denying minorities the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an emerging industry.

"I am completely disappointed with the medical marijuana commission and the decision that they have made in terms of awarding licenses," said Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, chairwoman of the black caucus. "Clearly, there was no effort at all to factor in minority participation and make sure that it's inclusive of everybody in the state of Maryland."

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Critics Say MD. Diversity Isn't Reflected; Decisions May Be Challenged

Maryland set up its legal medical marijuana industry with hopes of racial diversity and equity in the division of profits, but not one of the 15 companies that were cleared this week for potentially lucrative growing licenses is led by African Americans.

Some lawmakers and prospective minority-owned businesses say this is unacceptable in a state where nearly a third of the population is black, the most of any state with a comprehensive legal pot industry. They say the lack of diversity is emblematic of how, across the country, African Americans are disproportionately locked up when marijuana use is criminalized but are shut out of the profits when drug sales are legalized.

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Most scientists don't include personal stories in their research reports, but for John Lilly, personal experiences and science experiments were the same thing.

His ears, eyes, mouth, and nose were calibrated probes.

His mind was the unbiased observer, the ideal model for dispassionate inquiry.

Knowledge and experience led him to new sets of questions, not firmly held beliefs.

But as anyone who has traveled into the psychedelic spaces knows, soon after arrival, one quickly finds out that the scientist's tool kit-language-is much too small and inadequate for the job. The scientist's reaction to the psychedelic experience is a set of questions that sound more like a seeker's. This is the crux of the enigma of John Lilly.

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Town of Hancock Joins With Grower of Medical Cannabis

The small Western Maryland town of Hancock - population 1,545 - is poised to be a part owner of a medical marijuana company after winning a license to grow cannabis plants this week.

The town is in a unique partnership with an Arizona company that plans to grow cannabis in a town-owned warehouse and share profits with the Washington County town.

After Hancock suffered an exodus of about 1,000 jobs over the past two decades, the cannabis industry could spark an economic turnaround for the town and surrounding communities, said Mayor Daniel Murphy.

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More Than 20 Companies Given Preliminary OK for Medical Pot

The state has awarded preliminary licenses to more than 20 companies to grow and process marijuana in Maryland, a major step forward in the effort to make medical cannabis available to patients in Maryland.

Licenses were awarded Monday to companies across the state, from Washington County in Western Maryland to Worcester County on the Eastern Shore. They plan to grow marijuana plants and turn them into pills, oils, extracts and other products for patients suffering from a range of illnesses.

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Of the 15 companies cleared for cultivation, at least eight have ties to marijuana industries in other states.

From page A1 Thirty businesses have won approval to grow and process medical marijuana in Maryland, regulators announced Monday, putting life into the industry more than three years after lawmakers legalized the drug for medical use.

Several of the winning applicants have political ties - with major donors or high-ranking officials on their teams - including a company that hired the Maryland lawmaker who was the driving force behind the tightly regulated program.

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Former Sheriff Janney Has Stake in Application

BALTIMORE - Today marks the day when Cecil County will find out whether its future will be green, benefitting economically from the development of potential medical marijuana growing and processing facilities.

The Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, under the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which was formed by 2014 legislation to develop policies, procedures and regulations to implement the state's medical marijuana program, voted on its stage one license pre-approvals for 15 growers and the first 15 processors on Aug. 5.

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When Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced her decision to drop the remaining cases against the police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, she spoke of fighting for reform and equality in our justice system.

As a city public defender, I'd like to offer a few suggestions.

Continuing to pursue police misconduct is a given, particularly now that a Justice Department inquiry has found that the Baltimore Police Department "engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the United States Constitution and laws" and in "conduct that raises serious concerns." But there are two other examples of injustice occurring in courts on a regular basis: the inequities of the cash bail system and the continuation of the war on drugs.

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Parents of a young man who died of substance abuse urge others to talk about addiction before they, too, face tragedy

Thank you to Amy Waldron for her letter ("Bringing addiction out of the shadows," July 28) regarding the death of our son, Alex Hoehn, from substance abuse.

Amy's comments were both accurate and poignant, "Addiction is killing our young people at unprecedented rates. ... By bringing addiction out of the shadows and showing the faces of the people we are losing to this disease, we can continue to move forward toward breaking the stigma of addiction." Her response touched our hearts and we felt compelled to further share our story and the brutal effects of this horrific drug epidemic.

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It is unacceptable that a letter writer who identified himself as a long-time addictions counselor would display such an inadequate and limited knowledge of medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders ("Addiction can't be medicated away," July 25).

I am now in long-term recovery after having suffered with a substance use disorder for most of my life. I have tried many types of treatment, but what worked for me was a long-term, medication-assisted treatment plan.

Through that, I realized that regardless of the treatment, if one is seriously seeking recovery and positive change all approaches can work.

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The Department of Justice's Report on the Baltimore Police Doesn't Say How Freddie Gray Died, but It Does Explain Why

When Vanita Gupta, who heads the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, announced the findings of the 14-month frederal probe of the Baltimore Police Department, she made clear that it was not an investigation of Freddie Gray's death. That's true; it barely mentions him and certainly comes to no conclusions about the specific circumstances of his arrest and fatal injury. But in its searing critique of the department's practices, it explains everything that happened that morning.

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For years the government's "war on drugs" focused on stopping the production of illegal drugs in countries like Bolivia, Peru, Mexico and Afghanistan.

While that effort was pretty much a failure, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry and the alcohol industry were producing record numbers of their products at home. As a result, more Americans now die from tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs than all illegal drugs combined.

There is no doubt that drug companies and physicians share responsibility for the current opiate and heroin epidemic. The primary cause of the current drug epidemic is the overprescribing of prescription pain medications by physicians, who get very little training regarding the disease of addiction but are often the salespeople for new medications.

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Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis wants to relax a hiring policy for police officers in Maryland that disqualifies applicants for past marijuana use, saying it is "fundamentally inconsistent with where we are as a society" and hurts local hiring efforts.

Davis will lead a committee to review the current standard of the Maryland Police Training Commission, which sets hiring policy for law enforcement in the state. Applicants are disqualified from becoming officers if they have used marijuana more than 20 times in their lives or five times since turning 21.

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Maryland has recently enacted or proposed two work-arounds for the problem of Suboxone being smuggled into prisons. The first action, taking Suboxone off the Medicaid preferred drug list ("State action limits opioid addiction treatments," June 23), destabilized patients in recovery without reducing demand in prisons. Last week, Maryland correctional officials proposed a ban on prisoners receiving personal letters by mail. This proposal was later withdrawn, presumably as a response to criticism by the ACLU ("Maryland corrections officials withdraw proposal to limit inmate mail to postcards," July 21).

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Finding Qualified Men and Women to Serve As City Police Officers Is Tough Enough Without an Outdated Marijuana Policy

The challenge of police recruiting is nothing new. The modest pay, long hours and duties that can be both boring and life-threatening aren't for everyone. In 2000, for instance, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles reported a drastic drop in police applicants and blamed a number of factors, including low officer morale, for their recruitment woes.

But police departments like Baltimore's need more than the usual suspects to walk in their door. Since long before Freddie Gray was placed in the back of that police van, city officials have been pushing for a more diverse Police Department. How much more effective might law enforcement be if its officers truly understood the community they served - if, for instance, they grew up on the same streets they would be asked to patrol?

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We are writing to let The Sun know that we are not going to let our grandson's death be just another drug-related death. He was just a kid who got caught up the heroin-fentanyl epidemic and lost his life.

On June 15, our 18-year-old grandson took heroin laced with fentanyl, got sick and died on Mountain Road in Pasadena. His body laid in plain sight for two days. Cars and people passed by and no one called to report his body. It was his father who found him and called 911.

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Police Commissioner Says Bar on Past Marijuana Use Limits Recruiting Efforts

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis wants to relax a hiring policy for police officers in Maryland that disqualifies applicants for past marijuana use, saying it is "fundamentally inconsistent with where we are as a society" and hurts local hiring efforts.

Davis will lead a committee to review the current standard of the Maryland Police Training Commission, which sets hiring policy for law enforcement in the state. Police applicants are disqualified from becoming officers if they have used marijuana more than 20 times in their lives or five times since turning 21 years old.

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Morhaim a Key Advocate for Medical Marijuana in State

A state lawmaker who has been a leading advocate for Maryland's medical marijuana law said Wednesday that he wished he had been more transparent about his business connection to the cannabis industry.

Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, has drawn scrutiny for publicly telling the state's medical cannabis commission how to set up the industry at the same time he agreed to work as a clinical director for a private company seeking a highly coveted license.

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MD. Delegate Did Not Disclose His Connection to Dispensary Applicant

The state lawmaker who led the effort to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland is part of a company trying to sell and profit off the drug - a position he never disclosed as he pushed bills and regulations to help cannabis businesses.

Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) is the clinical director for Doctor's Orders, according to a portion of a dispensary licensing application obtained by The Washington Post through a public records request.

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Morhaim Tells Advocates to Be Aggressive in Pressing State's Health Care Providers

A leading architect of the state's medical marijuana program urged representatives of the fledgling industry Wednesday to pressure health care providers and hospital administrators to remove obstacles to making the drug available to patients.

Del. Dan K. Morhaim, the longestserving physician in the General Assembly, told about 200 people at the first statewide conference of the Maryland Cannabis Industry Association that they need to be aggressive advocates as their business approaches its first legal sales - probably next year.

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