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. [continues 1404 words]
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. [continues 221 words]
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. [continues 1347 words]
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 This proposal was later withdrawn, presumably as a response to criticism by the ACLU ("Maryland corrections officials withdraw proposal to limit inmate mail to postcards," July 21). [continues 275 words]
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? [continues 591 words]
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. [continues 279 words]
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. [continues 1269 words]
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. [continues 758 words]
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. [continues 1079 words]
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. [continues 418 words]
Columbia Group Wants to Test Medical Marijuana to Lessen Danger to Patients A group of local doctors plans to open a medical marijuana testing facility in Columbia to ensure product quality as the state prepares to launch its burgeoning therapeutic cannabis industry. Testing is required by state law for cannabis growers, which presented an opportunity for the group of four doctors, led by Dr. Andrew Rosenstein, chief of the division of gastroenterology at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. Rosenstein said the doctors were worried about potential threats to some of their sickest patients from contaminants in cannabis that could complicate conditions rather than alleviate pain and other symptoms. [continues 898 words]
Padlocking stores and punishing small business owners who are fearful of drug dealer retaliation is not the solution to reducing crime ("Police close BP gas station," June 22). This is about drug prohibition, and here is another reason added to the long list of reasons for ending drug prohibition laws which are counter productive to public safety. In the same manner that Al Capone and his gun toting cronies intimidated businesses and communities as they managed their illegal alcohol businesses, today's drug dealers literally commandeer gas stations and convenience stores while peddling drugs within poor city communities. [continues 86 words]
The people lining up to profit from Maryland's legal medical-marijuana market include former sheriffs and state lawmakers, wealthy business executives and well-connected political donors, according to previously undisclosed public records obtained by The Washington Post. Nearly 150 businesses are competing for up to 15 cultivation licenses that will be awarded starting this summer, the first footholds in an emerging industry that is already worth billions nationally. Very few applicants have publicly discussed their plans. But through a public-records request and database searches, The Post identified more than 950 people working for or investing in prospective growing operations in Maryland. Among them: former Drug Enforcement Administration agents; the leader of a Maryland statewide police union; former heads of the Department of Natural Resources police; a former U.S. Capitol Police chief; and Eugene Monroe, the recently released tackle for the Baltimore Ravens who is the foremost advocate of medical marijuana in the National Football League. [continues 2683 words]
The Supreme Court just gave police sweeping new powers to rummage through people's pockets The Supreme Court threw out more than a half century of precedent this week when it ruled that evidence gathered after an illegal stop can be used in criminal prosecutions if the person searched has an outstanding warrant. In a 5-3 ruling, the justices substantially weakened the longstanding exclusionary rule that generally makes such evidence inadmissible in court. The court's action threatens Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches and represents a dangerous departure from settled law that prevented police from randomly stopping and questioning people on the streets. [continues 540 words]
EASTON - U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, Rmd.-1st, is part of a group of bipartisan congressmen who want to loosen the federal barriers to medical marijuana research. Harris, a physician who has also conducted National Institute of Health-sponsored research, and several other federal lawmakers plan to introduce bills in both houses of Congress. According to Harris' office, the House version of the bill would address two major barriers faced by those who want to conduct legitimate medical marijuana research. It allows for the private manufacturing and distribution of marijuana solely for research purposes, in order for the researchers to get the pot they need for their studies. It also aims to reduce approval wait times for studies. [continues 544 words]
GOP Rep. Andy Harris Wants More Study of the Medicinal Use of Cannabis WASHINGTON - Two years after Rep. Andy Harris put himself in the center of a controversy over legalizing marijuana in the nation's capital, the conservative Republican is emerging as a leading voice advocating for more research into the drug's medicinal value. Harris, a Johns Hopkins-trained anesthesiologist who hangs a white lab coat in his waiting room on Capitol Hill, has been working for roughly a year to build a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers who want to ease restrictions on marijuana for the purpose of studying its effect on debilitating diseases. [continues 833 words]
Female Entrepreneurs Aim to Lead in Medical Cannabis The burgeoning sisterhood of Maryland's marijuana entrepreneurs gathered in the back room of a Columbia chain restaurant recently, swapping business ideas over chicken wings and cheese cubes. Maryland's long-promised medical marijuana industry doesn't exist yet, and that's precisely why more than 60 women, mostly dressed like a PTA crowd, banded together there - to rise to the top before anyone gets in their way. "How vital are women to the success of the cannabis business in Maryland? If you're asking, I probably don't want to talk to you," said Megan Rogers, a co-founder of the Baltimore chapter of Women Grow and an applicant to open a dispensary. "We're here to ensure that the cannabis industry has no glass ceiling." [continues 1173 words]
Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Eugene Monroe was released Wednesday, several months after he had publicly called on the N.F.L. to let players use medical marijuana to treat injuries. Though retired N.F.L. players have advocated for the use of medical marijuana, Monroe is one of the few active players who have taken that stance. Medical marijuana, he said, is safer and healthier than prescription painkillers, which can be addictive. Monroe, who is now a free agent, said he would continue to call on the league to loosen its stance, regardless of whether he continues to play in the N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said only that the league's advisers continue to evaluate the issue. [continues 128 words]
Big Tobacco takes a disproportionate toll on the working class and the poor, but thrives on an image of upscale glamour. Expect more of the same from Big Marijuana. Media have glamorized the drug since Colorado legalized it for recreational use, but a new story by Politico highlights what seems obvious to anyone in Colorado's most economically challenged neighborhoods. The headline sums it up: "The Marijuana Industry's War on the Poor: Denver's booming pot industry may be trendy, but it's giving poorer neighborhoods a headache." [continues 465 words]
Throughout Baltimore, citizens' faith in our public institutions has been badly shaken. Last year saw the most murders per capita on record. Scandals have hobbled our housing and police departments. The recent election resulted in "widespread irregularities." Full agency audits have proven elusive amid continual delays. Our Affordable Housing Trust Fund is broke. Over a year after Freddie Gray's untimely death, we have not fully addressed any of the inequities that haunted his short life Yet there are glimmers of hope. Throughout the city, citizens are digging in, reinvesting, rebuilding community and creating new opportunities. In the most recent election, voters were energized and turned out in unprecedented numbers. [continues 477 words]
Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein is right to "Thank a Cop" in honor of National Police Week. Good police work is essential to a fair and effective criminal justice system. However, Mr. Rosenstein is wrong to imply that his office's occasional prosecution of corrupt police officers, usually for theft and fraud offenses, means that we have been vigilant enough in policing law enforcement. Much has changed since 1962, when National Police Week was created. Most significantly, the mass incarceration of racial and ethnic minorities, primarily for drug offenses, has shaken our community's faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system. [continues 306 words]
Maryland's state medical marijuana commission delivered a blow to marijuana advocates and would-be entrepreneurs last week by abruptly capping the number of businesses that can process marijuana into pills, oils and other products. The commission also gave conflicting information about when the first long-awaited growing licenses would be issued, with Executive Director Patrick Jameson first saying it would be late summer or early fall, then stating that licenses would come "weeks" after the evaluations of the applications are completed in early July. [continues 201 words]
MD. Still Hasn't Issued Licenses Panel Limits Processors of Medical Marijuana Maryland's state medical marijuana commission delivered a blow to marijuana advocates and would-be entrepreneurs last week by abruptly capping the number of businesses that can process marijuana into pills, oils and other products. The commission also gave conflicting information about when the first long-awaited growing licenses would be issued, with Executive Director Patrick Jameson first saying it would be late summer or early fall, then stating that licenses would come "weeks" after the evaluations of the applications are completed in early July. [continues 890 words]
Maryland's state medical marijuana commission delivered a blow to marijuana advocates and would-be entrepreneurs last week by abruptly capping the number of businesses that can process marijuana into pills, oils and other products. The commission also gave conflicting information about when the first long-awaited growing licenses would be issued, with executive director Patrick Jameson first saying it would be late summer or early fall, then stating that licenses would come "weeks" after the evaluations of the applications are completed in early July. [continues 900 words]
Baltimore Ravens player Eugene Monroe wants to be able to smoke pot. The offensive tackle is waging a campaign to get the National Football League to drop its ban on players using marijuana. He argues that chronic pain associated with the sport has driven many players to use strong prescription painkillers to which they have then become addicted. "I've sustained many injuries in my career, most of which were paired with a prescription opioid. As a football player, I know that I signed up to play one of the most physically demanding sports on the planet; and yes, I love this game," Moore said on his website. "However, we aren't warned that the inherent physicality of the game could coincide with life-threatening treatment options." [continues 253 words]
Would the cultivation of medical marijuana in our community bring additional crime to Frederick County? Some who stand against cultivation of medical marijuana in our county believe so. With all the rhetoric we have been exposed to for these many years during the unsuccessful prosecution of the war on drugs, and the fear-mongering tactics employed by some, it is understandable that people might have concerns over the possibility of more crime. As for the assertion by those who say the cultivation of medical marijuana would attract crime to a community like ours, there is significant credible evidence to disabuse us of that notion. Reliable information that has been gathered since the legalization of medical marijuana, as well as the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, suggests that fears of additional crime are unfounded. [continues 550 words]
History will remember April 2015 as a time of rebirth for Baltimore and for our nation It has been nearly one year since I spoke at Freddie Gray's funeral - and since our city found itself in the throes of unrest. During the past year, I have had the opportunity to work with many people who are dedicated to securing a better future for our city and our nation. Yet, at this one-year mark, we are still seeking the answers to the question that I asked when facing the cameras in the pews at New Shiloh Baptist Church. Freddie Gray, who died from injuries sustained in the back of a Baltimore police van, is shown here in an undated family picture. We all know his name in death, but did we truly see him when he was alive? [continues 767 words]
The great awakening to the social problems wrought by the long war on drugs and America's epoch of mass incarceration now informs almost every discussion of the state of the union and its future. It's kind of shocking. In a time of hyper-partisanship, I hear Americans from a range of ideologies acknowledge a history of institutional prejudices and misguided policies: Treating drug addiction as a crime and not a condition, ignoring the toxic side effects of zero-tolerance policing in Baltimore and other cities, curtailing efforts to rehabilitate inmates (taking corrections out of corrections), treating juvenile offenders as adults. [continues 743 words]
Byron Lamont McDade had a powerful advocate in his corner. The judge who sent him away for more than two decades for his role in a Washington-area drug ring personally pleaded McDade's case for early release. On Wednesday, President Obama responded, and McDade is heading home to Maryland this summer - eight years before his prison term was to expire. "He's already served too long," U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said after learning that McDade was among the 61 inmates granted relief by the president as part of the administration's effort to roll back sentences from the nation's war on drugs. [continues 665 words]
A sweeping criminal justice bill that cleared the Maryland Senate last week is supposed to right some of the wrongs of the decades-long war on drugs. The legislation aims to reduce Maryland's prison population and save hundreds of millions of dollars on prison costs by easing sentencing laws for nonviolent drug offenders and pushing people who are arrested with drugs into treatment instead of behind bars. But the bill was almost derailed last week after the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee amended the measure, arguing that it went too far in keeping offenders out of jail and could pose a risk to public safety. Now the bill heads to the more liberal House of Delegates, where an emotional debate is expected this week. [continues 1108 words]
It's a Monday night in a Baltimore emergency room. An unkempt, middle-aged man is complaining of wrist pain. "I came in a week ago," he says. "I broke my right wrist." Records indicate it was actually two days ago. Now his left wrist hurts too, he complains, and he's out of pain meds. In 48 hours, he has evidently consumed his entire prescription of 30 Oxycodone. Behind him, more Baltimoreans are in pain. "It's my knee," claims the next man. "It's been hurting for years, but it's been worse the last few months." An obese woman has arrived following a motor vehicle accident. "Well, actually, the car was parked," she explains. "Another car bumped into my car in the parking lot." She says her neck pain is a 14 out of 10. Another patient has a chronic back injury. He's out of meds, and he can't wait until Friday, when his refill is due. These are considered "emergencies." [continues 582 words]
Ravens left tackle Eugene Monroe has missed nearly half the team's games over the past two seasons, battling knee and ankle injuries in 2014, the concussion he sustained in the opening game of 2015 and the shoulder injury that ended his season. To deal with the pain, the seven-year veteran would like to use medical marijuana, which has been legal in Maryland since 2014. But because it's on the National Football League's list of banned substances, he would face a suspension if he tried. [continues 1170 words]
As a representative of the treatment and recovery community in Maryland, I'd like to applaud the recent efforts of both the federal government and state of Maryland in recognizing the value of comprehensive addiction treatment and fighting back against the heroin and opiate epidemic that is still killing people in record numbers. The recent funding announcement, which will bring $1.8 million into the state of Maryland for addiction treatment, was welcome news for both struggling addicts and addiction professionals who have been fighting an uphill battle ("Maryland clinics receive $1.8 million to treat heroin, opioid addicts," March11). [continues 123 words]
MD. Should Consider (but Not Rush Into) Legalizing 'Safe Injection Sites' Lawmakers are considering a bill in the General Assembly that only a few years ago would have been thought a dangerously radical proposal: legalizing the creation of so-called "safe injection facilities" where people addicted to heroin and other opioids can consume the drugs under the supervision of medically trained staff without subjecting themselves to criminal penalties. While the idea of sanctioning illegal drug use still strikes many people as extreme, such programs in fact have proven effective elsewhere, and they're also a logical consequence of a national trend toward treating addiction as an illness rather than as a crime. [continues 639 words]
Maryland has made many important strides in the fight against opioid addiction, but with 887 people dead in 2014 because of overdose or poisoning and a shocking increase in crime and violence related to drug addiction last year, we need more than a just steps in the right direction. We need to take a leap. That's why supervised injection facilities (SIFs), like those proposed in a bill sponsored by Del. Dan Morhaim, must be considered. SIFs are places where adult, long-time injection drug users are supervised by clinically trained staff while they consume. [continues 619 words]
MD. House Backs Broader Certification; Hearing Held on Gun Bills Maryland would allow midwives, nurses, dentists and foot doctors to certify patients for medical-marijuana use under a bill the state House of Delegates passed Friday. Current state law restricts such authority to physicians, but the House voted 110 to 21 to extend it to other types of health-care providers. The legislation, sponsored by Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County), will now move to the Senate for consideration. The change wouldn't have any immediate practical implications, because the state doesn't expect to have any dispensaries until at least next year. [continues 587 words]
Changing Views on Enforcement Meet With Praise and Alarm As the nation debates the war on drugs, Baltimore has already begun to redraw the battle lines. Baltimore police have shifted the department's strategy to focus more on largescale, violent players in the drug trade and less on addicts committing lesser offenses. The result on the street: Drug arrests dropped by nearly 50 percent last year, according to a data analysis by The Baltimore Sun. Police didn't just arrest fewer people for marijuana - small amounts of which were decriminalized in 2014 - but for other illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine, and for crimes ranging from possession to distribution. [continues 1651 words]
The suspicious activity that led four plainclothes Baltimore police detectives in two unmarked vehicles to surround Jawan Richards' sport utility vehicle on a residential street in Northwest Baltimore late last month was that he wasn't wearing a seat belt, police say in court records. Richards allegedly put his vehicle in reverse and struck the door of a police vehicle, which struck an officer, according to a summary of the incident written by police. Two of the detectives opened fire, shooting Richards once in the neck. [continues 272 words]
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]
Inside Maryland
