When Anne Arundel police seized 158 grams of kratom, a plant from Southeast Asia used medicinally for centuries, it was the first time it was seized in a county investigation, according to police.

Officers arrested Michaela Elizabeth Gran, 21, and Chase Seven Gran, 23, both of Glen Burnie, on Tuesday after they said the two were found with small amounts of narcotics as well as the 158 grams of kratom. Its seizure caused some confusion, as the drug is legal in Maryland and can be bought for $1 for a pill-sized capsule in local smoke shops. That, and how many people have ever heard of kratom?

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Medical marijuana is now available in Maryland. Here's what you need to know about it.

Medical marijuana is now available in Maryland, more than four years after the General Assembly passed a law legalizing it.

Standing up the industry -- with growers, processors, dispensaries and doctors -- took longer than expected. The law needed to be tweaked, rules needed to be written and legal battles needed to be fought over who won licenses.

Here's what prospective users need to know about medical marijuana.

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Maryland began the sale of medical marijuana to residents in pain on Friday, ending years of delays by embarking on a program that features some of the most liberal policies in the nation on who can qualify for the prescribed cannabis.

Dozens of people stood outside a licensed dispensary in Montgomery County, Potomac Holistics, where owners began making sales soon after receiving their first shipment Friday afternoon.

"You can tell there's a buzz, and we're excited for so many reasons," Askinazi said. "We're giving care to people who need it."

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At Philip Tulkoff's food-processing plant in Baltimore, machines grind tough horseradish roots into puree. "If you put your arm in the wrong place," the owner says, "and you're not paying attention, it's going to pull you in." It's not a good place to be intoxicated.

Drug abuse in the workforce is a growing challenge for American business. While economists have paid more attention to the opioid epidemic's role in keeping people out of work, about two-thirds of those who report misusing pain-relievers are on the payroll. In the factory or office, such employees can be a drag on productivity, one of the U.S. economy's sore spots. In the worst case, they can endanger themselves and their colleagues.

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Hampden and Wyman Park residents took their concerns about a proposed medical cannabis dispensary to City Hall on Wednesday, as Baltimore City Council members weigh whether to put zoning restrictions on the businesses.

In Baltimore -- as well as other jurisdictions -- some residents have been surprised to learn about proposals for the dispensaries. Just one dispensary in the state has earned a final state license, but dozens more across the state have preliminary licenses they hope to finalize in the coming months.

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Maryland's medical marijuana regulators approved final licenses for eight growing companies on Monday, allowing them to start cultivating the drug.

Several companies said they are ready to begin growing immediately, while others say they will take weeks to get started.

"Now, we have a real industry," said Cary Millstein, CEO of newly licensed grower Freestate Wellness in Howard County.

Until Monday, just one of the 15 selected firms had received final permission to start cultivating medical marijuana, which was first legalized in the state in 2013. Even at full capacity, one firm could not produce nearly enough to support 102 planned dispensaries.

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Police and prosecutors in Baltimore have launched investigations after being alerted to body camera footage that the public defender's office says shows an officer planting drugs.

One officer has been suspended and two others have been placed on administrative duty, police said. Police said they have not reached any conclusions as to the conduct depicted in the video. Other cases in which the officers are involved are now under review as well, police and prosecutors said.

The public defender's office, which released the footage, said it was recorded by an officer during a drug arrest in January. It shows the officer placing a soup can, which holds a plastic bag, into a trash-strewn lot.

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After a year of having an opioid antidote in middle and high schools in Carroll County, a new state law requires that the medicine be available at the elementary school level, too.

The Start Talking Maryland Act, which lays out now-required opioid education at least once at all schooling levels, also requires all schools to carry naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote.

Filipa Gomes, supervisor of Health Services for Carroll County Public Schools, said in addition to the extra naloxone, Carroll County Public Schools staff are training more people how to administer the antidote.

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When talking about fighting drug addiction, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh likes to pose a question: "If you had a child who was on drugs, would you treat them in the neighborhood in which they were drug addicted?"

Then she answers, as she did at a news conference last week: "I would think that your answer would be 'no,' you'd put them on a plane to Timbuktu or somewhere."

Pugh has publicly used the formulation twice in recent weeks as she calls for the city to rethink how it works to treat the estimated 7,000 of its 24,000 opioid users who are not currently getting help. She says she agrees with the growing consensus that addiction should be viewed as a health problem rather than a criminal one. But she argues treatment needs to be shifted away from neighborhoods -- where, she says, patients have a worse chance of getting better, and where clinics become magnets for drug dealers.

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Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday made 10 appointments to the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, filling vacant positions and replacing six commissioners whose terms had expired.

The commission is charged with implementing Maryland's medical cannabis program. The appointments include doctors, business people and several members of law enforcement.

The appointments are:

* Charles P. LoDico, a chemist and toxicologist for the Department of Health and Human Services. His appointment fills a vacancy for a scientist with experience in cannabis.

* Barry G. Pope, a clinical pharmacist for Conduent State Healthcare LLC. He has been a registered pharmacist for 20 years. Pope was recommended for this appointment by the Maryland Pharmacists Association, and fills a vacancy for a licensed pharmacist on the commission.

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Even for seasoned health care workers, it can be unnerving to hear "emergency in the parking lot" over the loudspeaker. There, we found an 18-year-old man lying lifeless on the asphalt and not breathing. Before I could utter the words, an astute nurse immediately ordered that the patient be given Naloxone as she correctly recognized that this patient was suffering from an opioid overdose. Soon, the patient began to breathe spontaneously, effectively coming back to life.

This story could be used to celebrate the marvels of medicine and the skill of our health care workforce. However, this story does not have a happy ending.

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In the ongoing battle to stem the heroin and opiate epidemic in Maryland, the newest focus is a state law that mandates teaching students in elementary schools through college about the dangers of the drugs.

Public schools are tweaking drug-education lessons and colleges are preparing sessions for incoming students to comply with the Start Talking Maryland Act, which becomes law July 1.

The act, passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Larry Hogan earlier this year, requires public schools to offer drug-education that includes the dangers of heroin and opiates starting in elementary school.

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BALTIMORE - As more states relax their approach to marijuana, police departments are rethinking how many hits are too many for aspiring officers.

Maryland just passed a new standard, set to take effect in the state June 1, that bars applicants if they smoked pot in the past three years, the same policy used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The longstanding, previous policy had ruled out those who had used marijuana at least 20 times or at least five times since age 21.

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Family members of those who died of opioid overdoses embrace at the "Fed Up!" rally to end the opioid epidemic on September 18, 2016 in Washington, DC. Some 30,000 people die each year due to addiction to heroin and other opioids.

Family members of those who died of opioid overdoses embrace at the "Fed Up!" rally to end the opioid epidemic on September 18, 2016 in Washington, DC. Some 30,000 people die each year due to addiction to heroin and other opioids. (John Moore)

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Governor Hogan announces heroin crisis initiatives

Governor Larry Hogan announces a number of new initiatives to combat the statewide heroin crisis at a press conference at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. (Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette)

Governor Larry Hogan announces a number of new initiatives to combat the statewide heroin crisis at a press conference at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. (Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette)

Gov. Larry Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford came to Anne Arundel Medical Center Tuesday to announce new initiatives aimed at combating a rising tide of heroin abuse across the state.

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Del. Dan K. Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, speaks to reporters on the last day of the Maryland General Assembly's 2016 session. (Algerina Perna / Baltimore Sun)

Special counsel hired for ethics investigation into Baltimore County Del. Morhaim's cannabis work.

The General Assembly ethics committee that's investigating Del. Dan K. Morhaim's work with a medical cannabis company has hired a special counsel to assist with the review.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who on Friday disclosed the hiring of the special counsel, said the action underscores the serious nature of the investigation.

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[photo] A cell at El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. President Obama toured the prison last week. (Saul Loeb / AFP-Getty Images)

A bipartisan push to reduce the number of low-level drug offenders in prison is gaining momentum in Congress, but proposals may disappoint advocates hoping to slash the mandatory minimum sentences that are seen as chiefly responsible for overcrowding in the nation's detention facilities.

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) surprised advocates Thursday by saying he strongly supported holding a vote on a prison reform bill similar to one sponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a moderate Republican from Wisconsin. The measure has been languishing in the House Judiciary Committee.

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[photo] Marijuana plants are seen nearly ready for harvest at the Ataraxia medical marijuana cultivation center in Albion, Ill., on Sept. 15, 2015. (Seth Perlman, AP)

The Obama administration has decided marijuana will remain on the list of most-dangerous drugs, fully rebuffing growing support across the country for broad legalization, but said it will allow more research into its medical uses.

The decision to expand research into marijuana's medical potential could pave the way for the drug to be moved to a lesser category. Heroin, peyote and marijuana, among others, are considered Schedule I drugs because they have no medical application; cocaine and opiates, for example, have medical uses and, while still illegal for recreational use, are designated Schedule II drugs.

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Marijuana's health effects

A new report says the precise health effects of marijuana on its users remain something of a mystery. (Jan. 13, 2017)

More than 22 million Americans use some form of marijuana each month, and it's now approved for medicinal or recreational use in 28 states plus the District of Columbia. Nationwide, legal sales of the drug reached an estimated $7.1 billion last year.

Yet for all its ubiquity, a comprehensive new report says the precise health effects of marijuana on those who use it remain something of a mystery -- and the federal government continues to erect major barriers to research that would provide much-needed answers.

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A Maryland state lawmaker who came under scrutiny for his ties to a medical marijuana business while working on legislation shaping the industry has been removed from the health committee that oversees such bills.

Del. Dan Morhaim (D-Baltimore County), a physician, will serve on the judiciary committee in the 90-day legislative session starting Wednesday, following 13 years on the Health and Government Operations Committee.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) announced the change Monday when he released committee assignments.

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