One year after setting up an industry that sought to tackle an inequitable, decades-long war on drugs, Maryland lawmakers are getting into the weeds on a handful of proposals some say will keep the state’s burgeoning recreational cannabis system on track.
“Y’all hippies voted for this. It is now legal,” Del. C.T. Wilson, one of the architects of the 2023 cannabis law, said at a recent hearing on bills aimed at protecting both cannabis users and businesses.
Wilson — who has said from the start he doesn’t particularly like cannabis, but wants to create a fair and robust industry to eliminate the illegal market — is focused on a bill to make sure counties opposed to dispensaries can’t block them from opening. The legislation is a response to Carroll, Prince George’s and several other counties that have tried to go beyond the restrictions in last year’s law to limit where dispensaries can open.
Despite pushback from Prince George’s lawmakers, it’s possibly the most likely piece of cannabis legislation to pass before the annual General Assembly session ends April 8.
Wilson said he’s not sure whether another major bill aimed at protecting cannabis users from being discriminated against at work will get