Maryland Del. Dan K. Morhaim on Friday proposed four bills that would radically change the state's approach to dealing with drug problems, in part by removing criminal penalties for low-level possession and adding an emphasis on addiction treatment. One measure would create "safe spaces" for drug use, with facilities that provide sterile injection equipment, medical care and connections to social services. Another bill would establish a pilot program to test the effectiveness of treating addicts with the supervised use of free, pharmaceutical-grade opioids, such as heroin and hydromorphone, with the goal of weaning users off their addictions. [continues 579 words]
Two Baltimore-area lawmakers plan to introduce legislation in Annapolis that would decriminalize small amounts of all illicit drugs - - from cocaine to crack to heroin - and provide new options for addicts to shoot up safely and seek treatment. The legislation, sponsors said, would free up police resources and reduce incarceration rates by treating low-level drug users like patients rather than criminals. It would force hospitals to provide on-demand substance abuse treatment in emergency rooms and reduce overdoses and the spread of infectious diseases by creating facilities where addicts can consume drugs safely under medical supervision, they said. [continues 239 words]
Nearly 47,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2014 - more than from gunshot wounds or car crashes. In Maryland, the governor's office has defined the problem as an "epidemic ... destroying lives." Indeed, heroin deaths alone have increased by 186 percent from 2010 to 2015 in the state. Not only are drug-related deaths on the rise, so are the associated harms, including: drug-related crime and violence, the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C and the financial burden for taxpayers who shoulder the costs of health care and criminal justice. [continues 638 words]
Thank you for your humane, yet nononsense editorial that describes how law enforcement can work together with addiction treatment centers and programs ("Invitation to recovery," Jan. 27). The practice of inviting people with substance use disorders to come to a police station and get treatment is a cost-effective way to successfully tackle addiction. Lockup is not detox; being incarcerated in a cell does not provide the necessary clinical, therapeutic and spiritual needs that are essential for long-term recovery. While some naysayers may think such a program is inappropriate for law enforcement, there is a positive history of police departments using unsworn officers or staff to handle these cases. Examples include victim assistance counselors, diversion program staff and others who provide the necessary human services that addicts and their families need to stay sober. [continues 157 words]
Mass. Town Shows Promise of Treatment Rather Than Arrest for Drug Users What if instead of arresting heroin addicts and throwing them in the clink, police offered them a bed in a treatment center where they could begin the long road to recovery as soon as they walked through the door? It's an idea once considered unthinkable by law enforcement officials, who traditionally haven't thought of themselves as social service-providing members of the helping professions. But last year the town of Gloucester, Mass., embarked on an unusual initiative to radically change the model that treats drug addiction as a crime rather than as a chronic disease and public health threat. [continues 701 words]
Thirteen years ago, I started a pharmaceutical sales career for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, peddling samples out of my bag near the lush beautiful beaches of Newport and Laguna beaches in California. I threw ornate dinners for local psychiatrists to boost the sales of Effexor XR for depression and anxiety, even though it was clear that the physicians I sold to - the "pain docs"- prescribed Effexor off-label for pain. Almost a decade later, I parked my sporty Infiniti company car in Beverly Hills and traded my $200,000-plus salary, which I was then receiving from a boutique firm called Medicis, for a used epidemiology textbook at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, where I started a Master of Public Health program in 2011. What I did not realize at the time was that my own actions in closing a drug sale, without any bioethical considerations of what I was doing, helped contribute to the over-prescription of powerful psychotropic drugs much like that of OxyContin, a powerful painkiller. [continues 499 words]
Assembly Overrides Five of Hogan's Vetoes From 2015 Having a marijuana pipe or rolling papers won't be a crime in Maryland any longer. The General Assembly, led by Democrats, overturned five of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's vetoes on Thursday. One result is that a bill making possession of drug paraphernalia a civil offense and setting a fine for smoking marijuana in public will become law. The state will also receive more tax revenue from online hotel bookings. Police and prosecutors will have to prove cash and other assets are tainted before seizing them from suspects in criminal investigations. And an Annapolis arts center will get $2 million from the state. All of the laws go into effect next month. [continues 1015 words]
Our View: Change in Methadone Reimbursement Must Be Carefully Managed As the number of heroin overdose deaths in Maryland continues to rise, advocates for some drug treatment clinics are expressing alarm over a state proposal to change how such facilities are funded. The changes are intended to encourage clinics that serve recovering addicts to provide more counseling and other services to people trying to kick the habit. But the treatment centers fear the new rules could put them out of business if they result in substantial cuts in the reimbursement clinics receive for administering the drug methadone, which is used to wean addicts off heroin and other narcotics. The state needs to adopt a balanced approach that keeps as many drug treatment facilities open as possible but also offers clinics and health facilities more incentives to offer a broader range of services. [continues 581 words]
It's alarming that those calling for legislation specifically making it illegal to use marijuana behind the wheel don't understand the driver impairment laws already on the books. Impaired driving, whether from alcohol, marijuana or any other drug, is already illegal. We don't need a separate law to spell it out. Current law states, "A person may not drive or attempt to drive any vehicle while he is so far impaired by any drug, any combination of drugs, or a combination of one or more drugs and alcohol that he cannot drive a vehicle safely." [continues 638 words]
As someone who was once the state police commander of nine Maryland law enforcement drug task forces, including the Harford County Drug Task Force of which State's Attorney Joe Cassilly is a benefiting member, I find the recent commentary from him to be disingenuous and somewhat self-serving ("Why are Md. lawmakers itching to fund drug dealers?" Jan. 3). Mr. Cassilly's office not only benefits from seized assets, but according to his 2015 legislative testimony, he is the architect of Maryland's current civil asset forfeiture law. He has a vested interest in maintaining this problematic policy. [continues 90 words]
It is a crime to drink alcohol behind the wheel of a car. It is also a crime to drink alcohol in a public place such as the neighborhood park. I believe the vast majority of Marylanders agree with these two common-sense measures. It should be a crime to smoke marijuana behind the wheel of a car or to smoke marijuana in public. I am also certain that the vast majority of Marylanders agree with this. Yet if the legislature overrides the veto of Senate Bill 517 it will not be a crime to smoke marijuana while driving or to smoke marijuana in public. [continues 518 words]
As I sat with a client I'll call Grace in Baltimore County District Court in Essex, I watched case after case go before the judge. It was mostly less serious crimes: theft, possession of paraphernalia, driving without a license and trespassing. But all the cases, except for most of the traffic cases, had elements of mental illness and addiction, like the mother who was experiencing homelessness and hadn't been getting her children to school on a regular basis. She had prior arrests of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and theft. [continues 714 words]
State lawmakers, concerned that street level drug dealers will be unable to replace the heroin, crack cocaine and other poisons that the police seize when they arrest the dealers, will likely vote on the first day of the session on a bill requiring the police to return up to $300 to the dealers. As absurd as that sentence sounds during the current epidemic of heroin deaths and overdoses, that is exactly what a vote to override Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of Senate Bill 528 changes to the state's forfeiture laws will do. [continues 617 words]
After decades of a failed war on drugs, consensus finally seems to be shifting toward a more sensible approach to drugs and addiction, one that uses a public health model as opposed to a criminal justice one. In October, dozens of the nation's top police chiefs and prosecutors - - including Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis - met in Washington to announce a collective effort to reduce the number of people in prison. The new coalition, called Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, identified four priorities, including "increasing alternatives to arrest and prosecution, especially mental health and drug treatment." [continues 603 words]
Thank you for your front-page article on how the presidential candidates from both major parties are seriously addressing the nationwide epidemic of heroin and opioid addiction ("N.H. heroin crisis puts issue into presidential campaigns," Dec 22). Maryland is not alone in seeing a dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths and hospital emergency room patients. Our immediate challenge as a state is to support and work for the policy recommendations in Gov. Larry Hogan's task force report, which he released earlier this month. A key strategy for effectively implementing his recommendations is to make sure that all state agencies, especially the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, are working together with the medical, treatment, prevention, faith-based, nonprofit human service providers and the business communities to make sure any new programs and regulations make sense. This means these new initiatives would be evidence-based models for helping people and would be cost-effective. [continues 137 words]
Small Town Will Share in Pot Company's Profits At least two Maryland state universities are jumping at the chance to work with marijuana growers to research the medicinal application and cultivation of cannabis. A tiny Western Maryland town says it would happily accept a 5 percent share of profits from a company that hopes to operate there. As competition to join Maryland's burgeoning medical marijuana industry intensifies, some out-of-state entrepreneurs are forging partnerships with local institutions even before securing a license to operate. [continues 876 words]
After reading "The economics of heroin" (Dec. 20), I was more convinced than ever that the war on drugs has failed miserably. While it is true that we must do all we can to create employment opportunities in Baltimore and other cities with selfperpetuating pockets of poverty, "jobs" in the drug trade are not the answer. It is obvious that young people with no hope of financial success in minimum wage jobs will turn to the heroin market as a potentially lucrative career and mock those who choose another route. [continues 79 words]
Experts Want More Data on Effects of Medical Marijuana Even though Maryland is following the lead of 23 other states in setting up a medical marijuana industry, the collective experience of those states has translated to relatively little understanding of how the dozens of active substances within the plant affect health. As a result, Maryland will launch what likely will become a multimillion-dollar industry to make a psychoactive drug more available statewide without the benefit of proven information about the health implications. [continues 1288 words]
City Police to Offer Aid, Not Arrest, for Low-Level Offenders The Baltimore Police Department, working with a local nonprofit organization, is planning an experimental program that would divert low-level drug offenders to treatment and support services while allowing them to avoid arrest. The program, known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is part of a shift in Maryland and across the nation from the arrest-and-convict strategy that has dominated drug policies for a half-century. "Criminalizing individuals with addiction is not the answer," said Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore's health commissioner, who is working with police on the new program. "We must treat addiction as a disease and not a crime or a moral failing. LEAD is an innovative, evidence-based strategy that diverts people with addiction away from arrest and incarceration and instead gives them the medical treatment they need." [continues 1168 words]
Another change needed to help lower heroin addiction statistics ("Maryland's addiction problem," Dec. 3) that doesn't get mentioned is changing marijuana from a Schedule I substance alongside heroin to a lower category or removing it altogether. Both Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton support that change. How many American citizens were taught heroin is no worse than cannabis (by DARE, the DEA, etc.) only to find themselves suddenly addicted to it? Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
People who want to buy marijuana in Maryland for medicinal purposes are probably going to have to wait until 2017, nearly four years after the state made it legal. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission announced Monday that it will not award licenses to grow and process the drug until sometime in the summer - and industry officials say it will take an additional four to six months after that for the product to be ready to sell. The commission said it has no target date for allowing retail dispensaries to begin operating and cannot say when marijuana will be available to patients. [continues 522 words]
For Anthony Miles, Feb. 15, 2013, was a busy day of juggling calls, setting up meetings and touting a high-quality shipment he was expecting soon. Still, he found time to put air in the tires of his Mercedes and to note how well the day was going. Raising a large stack of bills in both hands, he bragged to a companion: I just made $20,000 in one hour. Just three days later, Miles was less euphoric. He grumbled he was making "chump change" while an associate was clearing $150,000 a day "with his eyes closed." [continues 4070 words]
General Assembly Council Recommends Shorter Terms for Nonviolent Offenders An influential General Assembly panel is recommending significant changes in sentencing laws for drug use - part of a plan to imprison thousands fewer people and use the savings to help others stay out of jail. The bipartisan Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council says the state can reduce the number of imprisoned Marylanders by 4,000 over the next decade, a decrease of nearly 20 percent. It recommends using the roughly $250 million that would be saved to invest in drug treatment programs and other services to help ex-prisoners successfully return to society. [continues 628 words]
On behalf of the Maryland Cannabis Industry Association, I would like thank to Hannah Byron for her leadership of the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Cannabis Commission ("Byron to resign as head of Maryland cannabis commission," Dec. 2). What is truly remarkable are the strides the Maryland program has made under her leadership over the last year. Many people do not realize that the first medical cannabis bill was introduced in Maryland in 1980 by former state delegate and current Baltimore County Councilman Wade Kach. The journey for Maryland patients began in 1980, but the momentum for getting medicine into the hands of patients really gathered steam in 2014, when Dels. Dan Morhaim and Cheryl Glenn and Sens. Jamie Raskin and Bobby Zirkin won the support of 177 of Maryland's 188 legislators to approve this sensible, compassionate legislation. [continues 139 words]
Calvert County wants out of Maryland's burgeoning medical marijuana program, and some officials want to take the state to court if lawmakers say no. The county commissioners voted 4 to 1 this week to ask state lawmakers to let counties ban marijuana-growing facilities and dispensaries in their jurisdictions. County officials said they are concerned about county employees facing retribution from the federal government for participating in the program, which remains illegal under federal law. [end]
Hogan Needs to Make a Substantial Commitment to Reducing Overdoses Atask force appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to look into how Maryland can reduce the number of heroin overdose deaths released a wide-ranging series of recommendations Tuesday that included both expanded access to treatment for addicts and tougher law enforcement measures against drug dealers and gangs. The 11 members of the panel, chaired by Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, acknowledged that there are no quick or easy solutions to overdose deaths and that a coordinated, multifaceted approach is needed to address them. But their final report offered few specifics regarding how large an effort will be needed to make a dent in the problem or how much it would cost. [continues 471 words]
For over two decades I have provided weekly clinical care to prisoners at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections. This experience of meeting thousands of patients has confirmed the epidemiological data suggesting that over half of all current prisoners have an addiction problem. About one in seven has opioid dependence, a consistent and predictable, all-consuming, chronic relapsing and potentially fatal brain disease. The current epidemic of opioid dependence has been driven by the flooding of the market with increased prescribing of pharmaceutical opioids. Regulatory pressures that have encouraged physicians to prescribe opioids for the management of chronic pain, along with unscrupulous profit-motivated pharmaceutical industry practices, have created this problem. [continues 630 words]
Entrepreneurs want to build medical marijuana dispensaries pretty much everywhere in Maryland. Last week the state's medical marijuana commission released a geographic breakdown of the 811 dispensary applications it received this month - an uptick from preliminary numbers. More than a quarter of dispensary applicants proposed building storefronts in Baltimore City or Baltimore County, and a third of them applied to build in the Washington suburbs. The interest in those areas, however, does not mean they will be inundated with dispensaries. Only two are allowed in each of the state's 47 legislative districts. [continues 189 words]
Baltimore- Deep into a three-day heroin binge at a local hotel, Samantha told the newbie he was shooting too much. He wasn't accustomed to heroin, she said, and hadn't waited long enough since his last injection. "But he didn't listen," she said. Sure enough, he emerged from a visit to the bathroom, eyes glazed, and collapsed from an overdose. Samantha, who declined to give her last name to avoid trouble with her bosses at a nearby strip club, said she grabbed her naloxone, the fast-acting antidote to opioid overdoses. She was too panicked to place the atomizer on the end of the syringe, but her boyfriend wasn't. He sprayed the mist into the nose of the unconscious drug user, who awoke minutes later. [continues 1122 words]
A discussion of police tactics and resources isn't enough; to stop the violence, leaders need to delve into root causes At the end of April, Baltimore had recorded 73 homicides and was on pace to see 222 for the year - high by most communities' standards but about the same as the city had suffered in recent years. Since then, police have reported 229 killings in 200 days, a breathtaking pace of carnage that suggests we could end 2015 with more than 350 homicides, a figure not seen since the worst days of the crack epidemic. Something changed after that cruel month of April, and it isn't changing back. [continues 772 words]
Ex-Mayor Renews His Call for Decriminalizing Marijuana in Wake of 300-Plus Killings University of Baltimore President Kurt L. Schmoke condemned the city's "subculture of violence" on Sunday and reiterated his call for the decriminalization of marijuana and an increase in employment opportunities, as the city's annual homicide total hit 300 for the first time since he was mayor in the 1990s. Speaking on a panel on WMAR's "Square Off" talk show with Richard Sher, Schmoke called the mounting death toll an "absolute tragedy" and said the community must take a stand against the violence to stop it. [continues 515 words]
Regarding Dr. Leana Wen's Nov. 11 op-ed, the use of so-called synthetic marijuana is an unintended side-effect of the war on natural marijuana ("Real danger in fake drugs"). Consumers are turning to potentially toxic drugs, made in China and sold as research chemicals before being repackaged as incense for retail sale in the U.S. A punitive criminal justice system incentivizes use. These potentially deadly chemical highs cannot be detected by standard drug tests. Military personnel and persons on probation use synthetic drugs to escape detection. [continues 97 words]
Officials Swamped As Almost 900 License Applications Flood In Maryland officials said Thursday that they expect to delay the state's medical marijuana program as they sort through a deluge of nearly 900 applications from businesses seeking licenses to grow, dispense or process the drug. The crush of 882 applicants brought in more than $1 million in license fees and prompted officials to push back plans to grant preliminary approval to licensees by mid-January. Extending the deadline to review, score and award the licenses into next year "in turn will extend the overall program rollout," said Hannah Byron, executive director of the Medical Cannabis Commission. [continues 848 words]
Baltimore Moves to Eradicate Synthetic Drugs in the City As Emergency Room Visits Rise When you think about drugs that ultimately lead people to the E.R., the first things that come to mind might be heroin, cocaine or prescription drugs. However, there is another dangerous set of substances that are sending thousands to hospitals across the country: synthetic drugs. As an emergency physician, I have treated high school students who came in unresponsive and needed breathing tubes to stay alive. I have seen teens hallucinating and suffering seizures. I have attended to adults who sustained long-term brain, heart and kidney damage because of these harmful drugs. [continues 593 words]
More Than 350 Apply for Licenses to Grow, Process or Dispense It "We could be very successful here." Dr. Greg Daniel, who hopes to operate a "seed-to-sale" operation that grows marijuana, processes it and sells it at a dispensary Maryland's nascent medical marijuana industry is already booming. More than 350 applicants for licenses to grow, process or dispense medical marijuana were filed with the state's Medical Cannabis Commission by Friday evening's deadline as entrepreneurs try to get in at the ground floor of the newest pot market. The applications cover every county in the state. [continues 978 words]
Who should be licensed to grow medical cannabis in Maryland? That question will soon be answered by the Natalie LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, which is authorized under state law to award licenses to 15 organizations to grow medical cannabis. The qualifications of these organizations are important, but so is where in Maryland they intend to locate. We want to shed light on why a qualified, licensed medical cannabis grower could be a tremendous asset for a community like ours. We live and work in Cumberland, a small Western Maryland town blessed with stunning natural surroundings, tranquillity and friendly neighbors. [continues 440 words]
Unexpected Players Getting in at the Ground Level A 152,000-square-foot warehouse in Cumberland, Md., could soon be the home of some of Maryland's first legally produced medical marijuana. To address security concerns, Peak Harvest Health says it will install bulletproof glass and retinal scanners to identify those entering the building. Employees will wear color-coded uniforms confirming where they are allowed to be. By late 2016, if approved by state regulators, the windowless building next door to a police station could be churning out up to 18 pounds of marijuana a day, enough to treat thousands of patients a month. [continues 970 words]
Headlines like those in The New York Times ("U.S. to Release 6,000 Inmates From Prisons") and in this newspaper ("Hundreds of Marylanders will be among federal drug prisoners released early") are enough to add to the jitters of a city already grappling with an explosion of violence. But hold your horses. The U. S. Sentencing Commission is essentially admitting that tens of thousands of men and women should never have been punished so harshly. They were victims of the hysteria of a war on drugs that disproportionately targeted blacks and Latinos. Among the 13,000 federal inmates who are eligible for reduced sentences, including the 6,000 whose release will begin at the end of the month, 72 percent are black or Latino, and a majority have done time under draconian drug laws. They will be released in waves; some are already in transitional programs, like the 37 in a facility operated by Volunteers for America Chesapeake. [continues 627 words]
Mass Incarceration and Long Prison Terms Don't Make Us Safer From Crime The federal prison system holds thousands of inmates who probably don't need to be there, either because they received unduly long sentences for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses committed decades ago, or because they're now simply too old to represent much of a threat (crime being overwhelmingly a young man's game). The U.S. locks up more of its citizens per capita than any other country, despite the facts that it hasn't made us any safer, and the costs, both economic and social, have been enormous. [continues 611 words]
Statute Gives Physicians Permission to Issue Blanket Prescriptions for Naloxone Thousands of people have been trained to use a drug that prevents heroin overdoses, but many have faced a hurdle to obtaining naloxone - - a doctor's prescription. Under a Maryland law that takes effect today, doctors at local health departments can write a blanket prescription that covers anyone who is trained on how to administer the drug, also known as Narcan. They simply need to present a card at the pharmacy showing they had been taught by a state-certified trainer. [continues 859 words]
I am in full support of County Executive Steve Schuh's restrictions on the growing and distribution of medical marijuana in Anne Arundel County. The medical marijuana law is a work in progress, as evidenced by its much-delayed execution, twice passed by the General Assembly but postponed many times because of its difficult implementation. So it is entirely reasonable for our county executive to want to limit medical marijuana's growth and distribution in Anne Arundel County until the law is thoroughly vetted. If the goal is the well-being of patients, what possible difference does it make where the drug is manufactured? [continues 67 words]
A word of caution for readers of Dan Rodricks' column ("'Normalization' of marijuana doesn't necessarily mean wider use," Sept. 17). Continued vigilance in communicating and educating young people about the health effects of heavy marijuana use is critical. This is especially important since fewer adolescents now perceive marijuana as harmful. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study 2014 reports that just about one-third of high school seniors believe marijuana can be harmful to health, down from 52.4 percent. [continues 181 words]
Schuh's Attempt to Ban Medical Marijuana Facilities in Anne Arundel County Is Alarmist and Probably Illegal Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh's effort to effectively ban medical marijuana facilities in his county through the zoning code is not only alarmist and prejudicial, it is also probably illegal. That's the clear conclusion to draw from a letter of advice provided to members of the General Assembly from an assistant attorney general. State law explicitly says that medical marijuana growing, processing and distribution facilities must comply with local zoning. But "it does not permit the county to effectively bar these facilities, unless a particular county has special characteristics which make a particular type of facility inappropriate." We rather doubt that Mr. Schuh's desire to ensure that Anne Arundel isn't a "guinea pig" when it comes to medical marijuana would qualify as such a special characteristic. Rather, we are quite certain that in as large and diverse a county as Anne Arundel, there are plenty of locations that would be more than suitable for all types of medical marijuana facilities. [continues 632 words]
The Maryland attorney general's office says counties cannot summarily ban medical marijuana operations that are allowed by state law - an opinion conflicting with a proposal by Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh to prohibit medical marijuana facilities in that county. Last week, Schuh proposed a county bill to prevent individuals from growing, processing or dispensing medical marijuana in all Arundel zoning classifications. People with a valid prescription would be allowed to possess and use medical marijuana, but would have to get it outside the county. [continues 286 words]
Nearly 2 1/2 years after legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, Maryland is preparing to issue business licenses to dispensaries and cultivation centers-prompting a range of reactions from local elected officials. At one extreme, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh (R) is proposing a ban on cannabis production and shops in the county, which a skeptical state lawmaker likened to a county specific OxyContin prohibition. Elsewhere, Republicans hungry for jobs in their rural communities are embracing potential marijuana businesses. [continues 891 words]
The Anne Arundel Collation for Compassionate Care believes that County Executive Steve Schuh's anti-compassionate care legislation discriminates against county residents who suffer from the devastating effects of debilitating health conditions ("Medical marijuana ban runs into doubts," Sept. 15). Patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, seizures, autoimmune diseases, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and other debilitating health conditions should not have to suffer in the darkness. They should not have to travel long distances to procure a medicine that their doctor and health professionals from around the world have deemed effective and beneficial. [continues 522 words]
Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh's position on medical cannabis is both disappointing and baffling. And it cannot be permitted to stand. Under Mr. Schuh's proposal, medical cannabis facilities, essentially the pharmacies to distribute medication to suffering patients, and all matters of manufacturing and distribution of this medication, would be made illegal in Anne Arundel County. As a member of the House of Delegates, Mr. Schuh voted against medical marijuana and to continue making possession of small amounts of marijuana an offense punishable by months in jail. In combination with his current stance, if Mr. Schuh has his way, citizens of Anne Arundel County, and across our state with debilitating diseases such as cancer, AIDS and glaucoma would continue to be forced to choose between obtaining helpful medication and being a criminal. [continues 578 words]
Rod Rosenstein's op-ed piece, "A proven plan to prevent city murders" (Sept. 13), starts with the notion that it is the Police Department's job to prevent crime. To the contrary, I believe it is the Police Department's job to promptly respond to crime, investigate crime and deliver the guilty person to justice. The primary job of a prosecutor is to be a minister of justice - this is a widely accepted but often-ignored requirement, and it is ignored in Mr. Rosenstein's essay. [continues 222 words]
It's a shame that Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh is moving backward, not forward, on medical marijuana ("Proposal to ban medical marijuana raises doubts," Sept. 15). In 23 states and Washington, D.C., sick patients depend on legal medical marijuana to help alleviate symptoms of chemotherapy, prevent seizures and more. Medical marijuana in Maryland, as it stands, will be regulated tightly by an appointed commission to ensure that it only benefits approved patients. Forcing patients to travel benefits nobody and creates yet another burden on the sick or dying. I hope that Mr. Schuh stops substituting his own judgment for that of the commission and stops playing politics with people's lives. Brandon Levey, Pikesville [end]
The Baltimore County Council has set the zoning rules that will govern where medical marijuana businesses can open in the county. The unanimous passage of Councilwoman Vicki Almond's bill makes Baltimore County the first jurisdiction to tackle zoning issues surrounding medical marijuana, in advance of the state's issuing licenses to growers, processors and dispensaries. Medical marijuana growing and processing facilities will be allowed in industrial districts, although in the Chesapeake Enterprise Zone - a commercial and industrial district in the eastern part of the county - a grower must obtain approval of a special exception, which can be granted by an administrative judge after a public hearing. [continues 113 words]
Inside Maryland
