Pot is hot for Maryland lawmakers in Annapolis this year. The General Assembly is considering more than two dozen bills on marijuana -- or cannabis, as the substance is called when used as a medicine. For marijuana enthusiasts, full legalization for recreational purposes is at the top of the wish list. Bills in both the House and the Senate would put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to let voters decide whether to replace prohibition with a system of regulated sales and taxation. [continues 767 words]
The industrial hemp plant has a lot of boosters. They praise it for its hardiness and versatility. They say its oils yield food and medicine, its fibers produce clothing and plastic-like auto parts. They contend that when planted strategically, it can absorb manure and other pollutants before they flow into the Chesapeake Bay. So why is it contraband, they ask? Advocates for industrial hemp hope this is the year they can overcome the hemp plant's association with marijuana and win passage of a bill that would make it legal to grow and process in Maryland. At a forum Friday in Annapolis, they expressed confidence this will be the year state lawmakers join a growing national movement to distinguish hemp's industrial version from the plant beloved by millions of potheads. [continues 821 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]
Counties Concerned About Nuts and Bolts of Medical Marijuana OCEAN CITY - County officials from across Maryland packed an information session here Thursday, seeking guidance now that entrepreneurs are scouting locations to grow and sell marijuana for medical use. "If it's coming, I want to be as knowledgeable and prepared as I can be," said Michael Hewitt, a St. Mary's County commissioner who was among 200 people who attended the session at the Maryland Association of Counties summer convention. The General Assembly passed legislation this year and last to revise a 2013 law that had legalized the sale of medical marijuana in the state but was so restrictive that it attracted no proposals. Regulations have been drafted and, unless new snags emerge, people suffering from cancer, epilepsy and other ailments are expected to be able to purchase cannabis to relieve their symptoms by late 2016. [continues 933 words]
Possibility of Economic Boost From Production Facilities Is Enticing in Conservative Rural Areas of MD. Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters here haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical-marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents of Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1258 words]
Hagerstown Residents Say Yes to Medical Marijuana HAGERSTOWN - Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago. But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical marijuana production plant here, the county's five county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan. Residents in Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use. [continues 1474 words]
Advocates Worry Proposed Regulations Will Discourage Doctors From Participating Proposed rules for Maryland's nascent medical marijuana system are drawing objections from a leading advocate, who says the regulations could discourage doctors from participating. Del. Dan K. Morhaim, one of the chief sponsors of the legislation, criticized the draft regulations for requiring training and continued education in the medical use of marijuana for physicians who want to help their patients access the drug. "Please don't create any barriers for physicians," Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and the General Assembly's only physician, told the state's Medical Marijuana Commission at a hearing this week. [continues 1091 words]
Delegates Vote to Approve Decriminalization Measure The General Assembly moved Saturday to dramatically change Maryland's drug laws as the House of Delegates joined the Senate in voting to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a civil offense punishable only by a fine. The House voted 78-55 to approve a measure substantially similar to the decriminalization bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate last month. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said his chamber would agree to the House's relatively minor changes and send the bill to Gov. Martin O'Malley. [continues 1210 words]
Some Doctors Would Be Allowed to Recommend Drug Responding to growing public support for medical use of marijuana, the House of Delegates approved legislation Monday that would allow specially licensed physicians in Maryland to recommend the drug to patients with debilitating medical conditions. The bill now goes to the Senate, where supporters are optimistic about its prospects. The legislation would replace a system put in place last year that is widely regarded as a failure. That system restricted medical marijuana use to patients seeking care at academic medical centers, but none of the centers agreed to participate. [continues 838 words]
An NAACP leader, a former Maryland State Police major, a candidate for governor and a mother seeking to help her son with epilepsy converged Thursday on Annapolis to support more liberal marijuana laws. A number of bills, backed by lawmakers from a range of philosophical backgrounds, are moving through the General Assembly this year as a broader swath of the electorate has embraced legalizing or decriminalizing the drug. Roughly 100 people rallied Thursday outside the State House to show support for a Colorado-style system to legalize marijuana, an idea that got a hearing later in the day. Also Thursday, a key committee approved a bill to loosen restrictions that some say have hampered the state's nascent medical marijuana program. [continues 944 words]
A Senate committee voted 8-3 Friday to approve a measure decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, sending it to the full chamber next week. The bill would replace criminal penalties for possession of up to 10 grams of the drug with a $100 civil fine that would be handled much like a parking ticket. Maryland law now makes possession a misdemeanor with penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. The legislation, which has bipartisan sponsorship, is expected to pass the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the House, which killed it last year after the upper chamber approved it. The House has a work group studying the broader question of how to treat marijuana in state law, including proposals to allow expanded medical use of the drug. [end]
Bills Would Cover Children As Well As Adults; Mothers Speak in Favor of Passage A bipartisan group of state lawmakers vowed Friday to pass legislation this year to create a workable medical marijuana program that would cover children with debilitating conditions as well as adults. Dels. Cheryl D. Glenn and Dan K. Morhaim, sponsors of two bills that would replace legislation passed last year that is widely regarded as a failure, said they would meld their two versions into a single measure. One change they expect to make in the original bills next week is to remove provisions restricting the therapeutic use of cannabis to adults. [continues 524 words]
Police, Sheriffs, Prosecutors Against Legalization of Pot Prosecutors, police chiefs and sheriffs gathered Tuesday in Annapolis to push back against the growing movement to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana or to legalize recreational use of the drug altogether. At a news conference and at a Senate hearing, law enforcement leaders warned that loosening marijuana laws would undermine drug enforcement across the board. They said it would be premature to pass a bill following in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington state, which recently legalized pot, and opposed a separate measure that would treat possession as a minor civil offense. [continues 491 words]
A bill that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana a civil offense passed the Maryland Senate Tuesday on a 30-16 vote. The measure now goes to the House. The legislation, crafted to avoid handing out jail terms for possession of small amounts of marijuana, would remove any criminal component to the prohibion of marijuana possession when a person is caught with 10 grams or less -- about one-third of an ounce. The maximum fine would be a $100 fine. The current maximum is a 90-day jail term. [continues 91 words]
Naval Academy Continues Investigation into 'Spice,' Which Is Banned by the Navy An eighth midshipman was expelled from the Naval Academy last week as a result of an investigation into the use of the banned substance known as spice, the superintendent's office announced Monday. Also on Monday, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration filed a final notice that will outlaw the sale of the five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana, including spice. The chemicals will be banned for sale for at least a year. [continues 246 words]
City Council Moves To Ban Legal Hallucinogenic Herb In most of Maryland, salvia is a spiky, colorful plant that looks good in flower beds and attracts hummingbirds. In Ocean City, salvia is better known as a legal hallucinogenic herb you can buy over the counter and share with friends. But resort officials, alarmed by an increase in the herb's popularity, are preparing to weed it out. The Ocean City Council will vote Monday night on an emergency proposal to ban products made from salvia divinorum, a relative of herbal sage and common garden plants that is now sold openly at many shops along the Boardwalk. [continues 834 words]
Study Finds Drug Use, Rearrests Drop For Parolees, Probationers A mandatory drug-testing program launched by the state in 1998 is showing promising results in cutting drug use and rearrests among criminal offenders, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend told a legislative panel yesterday. Townsend pointed to a study showing that Break the Cycle, an initiative she helped launch, had yielded a 53 percent decline in positive drug tests among 19,500 parolees and probationers assigned to the program for two months or more. [continues 462 words]
Events Spur Questions About Her Supervision Of Juvenile Justice Agency Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has been described as the "crown princess" of Maryland politics - a broadly popular figure who has avoided any taint from a string of embarrassing incidents that has troubled the Glendening administration. But recent revelations of a pattern of abuse at the state's juvenile boot camps have landed on her doorstep - presenting the possible gubernatorial candidate with the most serious test of her career in public office. [continues 1429 words]
Psychological Profile Of `Classroom Avenger' To Be Distributed; Way To Prevent Violence; Report Also Disputes Stereotypes After Colorado Mass Killing A state task force decided yesterday to widely distribute a psychological profile of "the classroom avenger" in an attempt to identify students who pose a risk of carrying out attacks such as last week's mass killing in Littleton, Colo. The profile, devised by two psychologists at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Health System, will be sent to educators and police departments across the state. It is being used by Maryland State Police to evaluate reports of planned student violence. [continues 663 words]
State Police Admit Bias Suit Led To Big Drop In I-95 Seizures In '97; Rappaport Raised Issue Seizures of drugs from motorists along Interstate 95 almost ground to a halt last year primarily because of state troopers' reaction to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit accusing the Maryland State Police of stopping drivers on the basis of their race, state police officials acknowledged yesterday. Col. David B. Mitchell, the state police superintendent, essentially confirmed charges leveled by Republican attorney general candidate Paul H. Rappaport that drug confiscations along I-95 north of Baltimore dropped dramatically from 1995 to 1997. [continues 1060 words]
