Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby recently lamented in an op-ed piece about the difficulty of prosecuting crime because witnesses refuse to come forward. Rep Elijah Cummings recently issued an emotional appeal for "blacks lives [to] matter to black people." The city police chief recently announced that 10 federal agents would embed within the department to stem the rising violence. Baltimore is not unique in its surging crime rate. Politicians, police officials and community leaders around the country get on TV and appear baffled by the "senseless" violence. [continues 631 words]
Applications for licenses to operate 15 medical cannabis growing facilities, 15 processing plants and 109 dispensaries in the state of Maryland will begin in the next few weeks. The citizens of Baltimore County, and residents throughout Maryland, are relying on their county council members and county commissioners to serve them well when it comes to the location of these medical cannabis facilities. While the General Assembly has only legalized medical marijuana, which is a decision I wholeheartedly support, local government cannot be so short sighted as to just focus on today and ignore tomorrow. The point in the implementation of Maryland's medical cannabis laws has arrived where council members and commissioners must exercise county government's long-standing authority on land use matters. As the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission executive director Hannah L. Byron confirmed at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Summer Conference, these businesses must comply with local zoning regulations. [continues 486 words]
Regarding your thoughtful editorial on the medical use of cannabis, medical marijuana is not something to be feared ("Medical marijuana debate," Aug. 14). Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than marijuana prohibition states. The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with established access showed a 33 percent reduction in deaths. This research finding has huge implications for cities like Baltimore that are struggling with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths. [continues 106 words]
County Officials Should Be Wary of Overly Restrictive Local Zoning Laws Governing Dispensaries Local officials meeting at the Maryland Association of Counties convention in Ocean City last week had plenty of questions during a session set aside to discuss the state's new rules governing medical marijuana. Among the most intensely debated issues: How to ensure the legalization of pot for medical use doesn't encourage abuses by patients and physicians, as it has in some other states, or create a public nuisance in areas where marijuana dispensaries are located. Those are all valid concerns expected to be addressed in the regulations the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission will issue next month. [continues 541 words]
Maryland Can Follow in the Footsteps of Other States That Have Increased Public Safety While Reducing Spending on Prisons The number of inmates in Maryland's prisons has dropped 10 percent since 2006, and crime has fallen at the same time. Yet the state corrections department has seen an inflation-adjusted budget increase of 35 percent during that period. Something is wrong here, and an unusual coalition of Maryland's leaders from both parties and all three branches of government is trying to find the solution. [continues 588 words]
Counties Concerned About Nuts and Bolts of Medical Marijuana OCEAN CITY - County officials from across Maryland packed an information session here Thursday, seeking guidance now that entrepreneurs are scouting locations to grow and sell marijuana for medical use. "If it's coming, I want to be as knowledgeable and prepared as I can be," said Michael Hewitt, a St. Mary's County commissioner who was among 200 people who attended the session at the Maryland Association of Counties summer convention. The General Assembly passed legislation this year and last to revise a 2013 law that had legalized the sale of medical marijuana in the state but was so restrictive that it attracted no proposals. Regulations have been drafted and, unless new snags emerge, people suffering from cancer, epilepsy and other ailments are expected to be able to purchase cannabis to relieve their symptoms by late 2016. [continues 933 words]
I was disappointed to read your front-page story about marijuana sales ("Maryland native dubbed 'marijuana mogul' in Colorado," Aug. 10). How sad it is that people want to make money off of the weaknesses of others. People with addiction problems and mental illnesses that cause them to use drugs should not be taken advantage of or encouraged. In this day and age when we are working hard to break nicotine addiction and cigarette smoking, alcohol addiction and drunkenness, we should not be encouraging another kind of drug addiction to flourish. Lisa Sneed, Baltimore [end]
The first time Brian Rogers took a bong hit at a party with his Havre de Grace High School friends, he said marijuana had no effect on him. Now Rogers co-owns a multimillion-dollar marijuana company in Colorado at the center of the CNNdocu-series "High Profits," and he's no longer ambivalent. "It's changed my life," the 34-year-old Harford County native said. While recreational marijuana is illegal in 46 states - including Maryland - Colorado has been at the forefront of the legalization movement. And Rogers has been at the forefront of capitalizing on it. [continues 1222 words]
Possibility of Economic Boost From Production Facilities Is Enticing in Conservative Rural Areas of MD. Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters here haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical-marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents of Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1258 words]
Hagerstown Residents Say Yes to Medical Marijuana HAGERSTOWN - Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents in Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1474 words]
The Baltimore Health Department's Plan to Expand Drug Treatment to Everyone Who Needs It Is the First Step Toward Reducing Overdose Deaths Statewide If you have a heart attack, the ER physician doesn't just give you an aspirin and send you home. If your kidneys fail, doctors don't throw up their hands and discharge you because they're short on dialysis machines. But if you're lucky enough to survive a heroin overdose, you might have to wait weeks to get an appointment at a drug treatment center, and even then you're as likely as not to be told there are no beds available. [continues 649 words]
Group Urges Multifaceted Approach to Help Reduce Overdoses and Deaths To stem the growing heroin addiction rates and overdose deaths, a Baltimore task force plans to unveil a more than $20 million proposal today that includes around-the-clock treatment options. The panel is expected to outline a multifaceted approach that also includes training for families in deploying a heroin overdose antidote, an informational website and an educational campaign. Some of the proposals are already being planned or underway. City officials, as well as state and federal leaders, have been sounding alarms about the surge in heroin and prescription drug deaths. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake formed the task force in the fall. She says the recommendations will serve as a "blueprint." [continues 801 words]
As fentanyl-related fatalities soar, Baltimore's strategy for reducing overdose deaths through harm reduction initiatives could be a model for the state Maryland is facing an epidemic of overdose deaths linked to drugs mixed with the painkiller fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than unadulterated heroin. Fentanyl-related deaths account for nearly a quarter of fatal drug overdoses statewide - up from just 4 percent two years ago - and now exceed the number of deaths linked to cocaine and alcohol. [continues 646 words]
Amid a statewide surge in overdoses, Baltimore health officials announced a campaign Monday to tell heroin users that the drug they buy on the street could contain the much more potent painkiller fentanyl. The synthetic opiod, which federal officials say is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin, is blamed in the deaths of hundreds of drug users nationwide since 2013. Health, law enforcement and counselors began issuing warnings more than a year ago, but have not been able to stem overdoses. [continues 736 words]
Amid a statewide surge in overdoses, Baltimore health officials announced a campaign Monday to tell heroin users that the drug they buy on the street could contain the much more potent painkiller fentanyl. The synthetic opiod, which federal officials say is 30 to 50 times as powerful as heroin, is blamed in the deaths of hundreds of drug users nationwide since 2013. Health officials, law enforcement authorities and counselors began issuing warnings more than a year ago but have not been able to stem overdoses. [continues 523 words]
I feel compelled to respond to your recent editorial, "Medical pot: No wonder." Sadly, the conclusions drawn in the piece are largely based on information that is (1) only peripherally relevant and (2) woefully out of date. The editorial does a disservice to readers by implying the "79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients" cited in the piece represent directly applicable - and current - research on medical cannabis. The first thing your readers should know is those 79 studies were not focused on what many experts would consider "medical marijuana." The study cited had "an emphasis on 28 randomized clinical trials of cannabinoids" - that is, 28 separate trials on individual molecules including mostly those that have been synthetically derived as only single, pure compounds. Experts overwhelmingly agree that whole-plant-based medicines, those including many molecules made by the plant, are physiologically superior to single-molecule approaches, yet most of the data cited in your editorial was derived from inferior single-molecule studies. It's fair to say that many of the questions and concerns raised by the research you cited are directly attributable to the deficient nature of the studies themselves. [continues 176 words]
Harden Also Ordered to Perform Community Service A former Baltimore County police officer who pleaded guilty in a drug case will avoid jail time and instead face probation and community service. Joseph Stanley Harden, 32, was sentenced Monday to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. He could have received seven years of incarceration after he pleaded guilty in April to attempted fourth-degree burglary and possession of oxycodone. In July 2014, Harden was accused of trying to kick in the door of a drug dealer in Dundalk to steal drugs. Harden announced that he was a police officer while trying to get into the dealer's home, and prosecutors said such actions endanger the credibility of other officers. [continues 427 words]
With the state publishing draft regulations for medical marijuana and an infrastructure for growing and distributing it coming into view, Marylanders who suffer from chronic pain or debilitating disease could gain access to the drug by the middle of next year. The rules developed by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, which cover doctor registration, licensing, fees and other concerns, were published last week. The state is accepting public comment on the rules through July 27. "This is a big step in the right direction," said Del. Dan K. Morhaim, a physician who championed the legalization of medical marijuana in the General Assembly. "This should make the program operational, though there should be adjustments every year or so for the next few years as we learn from our experience." [continues 685 words]
Drugs don't cause violence, prohibition does. A well meaning reader recently addressed the problem of gang-related violence in the city ("Reducing the number addicts is the key to reducing violence," June 4). The author suggested that the ongoing warfare causing such havoc is primarily due to the demand for addictive drugs. Not so: The violence is not due to the demand for these substances, it is due to the prohibition of these substances. Prohibition has never worked.Essentially all it does is create demand.However there's been plenty of violence with the distribution or use of tobacco.This was created by implementing the useless policies contained in the WHO's Convention on Tobacco Control.The high tobacco taxes cause... [continues 402 words]
Decision Invalidating Plea May Save Him From Serving a 20-Year Prison Term A 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Baltimore after he pleaded guilty to possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana won an appeal Wednesday invalidating the plea - raising the possibility that he will be released. Ronald Hammond took the plea in the 2012 case after Baltimore District Judge Askew Gatewood told prosecutors that "5.9 grams won't roll you a decent joint" and suggested Hammond accept the plea and pay a fine. [continues 395 words]
Inside Maryland
