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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Instead of arresting street level dealers, Maryland should focus on treating heroin addiction Recently The Capital reported on the arrest of 25 people in Annapolis for selling heroin. Our political leaders celebrated this as a significant victory in the drug war.

Yet we have seen countless headlines about drug busts in the 40-plus years since Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, and the drug trade continues unabated. Does anyone believe the recent arrests will accomplish anything, beyond saddling the arrestees with convictions that will haunt them the rest of their lives? As long as there is a demand for the drugs, the trade will continue.

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Aspiring Growers Ask Balto. CO. Council to Change Law

Entrepreneurs eager to get a foothold in the nascent medical marijuana business in Maryland asked Baltimore County Council members Tuesday to pass zoning laws that would allow them to operate.

Travis Radebaugh, a member of the family that operates Towson-based Radebaugh Florist & Greenhouses, told council members his company is ready to start growing marijuana - if the council allows farming operations in rural zones.

Council members are wrestling with details of where they should allow medical marijuana growing operations, processing facilities and dispensaries once the state approves licenses for the businesses.

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It was with deep regret and sadness that I looked closely at the pictures of each of my 45 fellow Baltimore residents murdered in July ("45 murders in 31 days: Looking back at Baltimore's deadliest month," Aug. 29).

All but two of them share one common trait: they are people of color. Where are "Black Lives Matter" or Al Sharpton now?

The ostensible reason for a large number of these murders is the proliferation of drugs and their insidious effect on human behavior. But what is the core reason for this?

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Your report "45 murders in 31 days: Looking back at Baltimore's deadliest month" (Aug. 29) may be the most important news article since Freddie Gray's death.

It provides a perspective that no longer permits people who don't live in the poor neighborhoods most affected by the violence to discount the homicides there by simply chalking them up to "drug dealers killing drug dealers."

While there may be some of that, for each and every loss of life someone nevertheless grieves. Thanks for publishing this important story.

Jeanne Geiger Brown

[end]

In a recent editorial The Sun chose to ignore the many positives of Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford's interim heroin task force report and instead spent most of its energy misinterpreting and then harping on his seven-word remark about funding: "It's probably never going to be enough" ("Rutherford pleads poverty," Aug. 26).

Why is this shocking? The heroin crisis needs a holistic solution; money alone will not solve it. This is widely recognized as fact, and was made abundantly clear by numerous testimonials given during the task force's open meetings that were held across the state.

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A24-year-old athlete from Columbia, a teenage girl from Glen Burnie who wanted to become a medical examiner and a 21-year-old brother of two from Pasadena. What do these three individuals have in common? Each died from a drug overdose.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in 2013, nearly 44,000 Americans died from drug overdose, referring to the situation as an "epidemic" as it eclipsed the number of deaths from auto accidents for the fifth year in a row.

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Putting city residents with minor criminal records to work on Baltimore's $1 billion school renovation project looks like a win-win situation

Ask anyone who lives in Baltimore the two things the city needs most and you're likely to get the same answer: Better schools for its children and more jobs for its working-age adults. That's why a proposal to make sure as many local residents as possible get work from the $1 billion plan to rebuild the school system's aging infrastructure sounds like a winner all around. Not only will young people get the modern school facilities they deserve but thousands of the city's unemployed could finally nail down a good job paying decent wages.

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Rutherford Says Size of Problem Outstrips Available Money

Cautioning that there likely would never be enough money to fix Maryland's heroin problem, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford said Tuesday that a state task force recommends an expansion of treatment and prevention efforts to begin addressing it.

Among the recommendations, part of an interim report to the governor, are allocations such as $800,000 to a residential treatment facility in Kent County to increase its capacity to 40 beds, and $300,000 to Baltimore for a pilot program in which recovering addicts would reach out to and help current users.

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Attorney General Frosh's commendable effort to stamp out conscious bias in law enforcement is only the first step to ensuring justice

Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is poised to take a commendable step today in the effort to restore trust between the police and minority communities by issuing a set of guidelines designed to stop officers from using race, ethnicity or other characteristics as a factor in routine law enforcement. But as an investigation of Baltimore police practices by The Sun's Catherine Rentz makes clear, it will be no easy thing to translate the principles Mr. Frosh is articulating into discernible change in neighborhoods like Freddie Gray's Sandtown-Winchester. AMY DAVIS/BALTIMORE SUN Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is seeking to sharply limit the influence of racial and other biases on police work.

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I applaud Joseph Scalia's commentary ("Blame city violence on the drug war," Aug. 22). His statement that this is a war not on drugs but on people living in war zones in every American city is unfailingly accurate. His admonition that no progress, regardless of the dollars spent, will be achieved to alleviate the killings and spare these families and neighborhoods in free fall until a truce has been declared could not be more prophetic.

One might expect law enforcement and its unions would be the first large contingent to call for that truce, given the impossible job they have been charged with all these years.

George Frazier, Baltimore

[end]

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.

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