Maryland House Approves Bill To Regulate Marijuana Sales As Senators Hold Hearing On Companion Version

The Maryland House of Delegates on Friday passed a bill to create regulations allowing for adult-use marijuana commerce following voter approval of legalization last year. Meanwhile, the Senate companion version received its first committee hearing on Thursday. In the House, members approved the legislation from Del. C.T. Wilson (D) in a 103-32 vote, just two days after the chamber advanced it through second reading. The measure now moves to the Senate. “It’s now our obligation to create an adult-use program,” he said, “and it’s our duty to ensure that Marylanders can receive the benefit of ownership in this industry; that citizens can have access to safe and effective cannabis without fear of adverse health effects or violence; that small business can flourish in Maryland under this industry and that communities that were ravaged by the war on drugs are in some small part allowed to finally benefit from marijuana.” While the House and Senate version were identical upon introduction, the House measure underwent significant amendments in committee prior to being passed by the body. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said during a press conference on Friday ahead of the House vote that he expects that bicameral lawmakers will work to “resolve” differences between the two versions, “potentially” in a conference committee, “sooner than later.” “We want to get this moving. There’s a lot of pieces to this,” he said. “And I think, you know, there’s no such thing as perfect in legislation. It’s doing the best you can to mitigate any of the potential unintended consequences that we can imagine today.” The Senate Finance Committee took up that chamber’s version during a meeting on Thursday, with four hours of discussion and roughly 100 witnesses testifying on the proposal. Witnesses and lawmakers suggested numerous changes touching on issues related to licensing, taxing, equity, on-site consumption facilities, workplace policies, product potency and the incorporation of current medical cannabis businesses into the recreational market, among others. The Maryland House of Delegates on Friday passed a bill to create regulations allowing for adult-use marijuana commerce following voter approval of legalization last year. Meanwhile, the Senate companion version received its first committee hearing on Thursday. In the House, members approved the legislation from Del. C.T. Wilson (D) in a 103-32 vote, just two days after the chamber advanced it through second reading. The measure now moves to the Senate. “This is a $1-2 billion industry for Maryland alone. You might not agree with marijuana or the vote that our citizens took, but they took it,” Wilson said on the floor. “It’s now our obligation to create an adult-use program,” he said, “and it’s our duty to ensure that Marylanders can receive the benefit of ownership in this industry; that citizens can have access to safe and effective cannabis without fear of adverse health effects or violence; that small business can flourish in Maryland under this industry and that communities that were ravaged by the war on drugs are in some small part allowed to finally benefit from marijuana.” While the House and Senate version were identical upon introduction, the House measure underwent significant amendments in committee prior to being passed by the body. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said during a press conference on Friday ahead of the House vote that he expects that bicameral lawmakers will work to “resolve” differences between the two versions, “potentially” in a conference committee, “sooner than later.” “We want to get this moving. There’s a lot of pieces to this,” he said. “And I think, you know, there’s no such thing as perfect in legislation. It’s doing the best you can to mitigate any of the potential unintended consequences that we can imagine today.” The Senate Finance Committee took up that chamber’s version during a meeting on Thursday, with four hours of discussion and roughly 100 witnesses testifying on the proposal. Witnesses and lawmakers suggested numerous changes touching on issues related to licensing, taxing, equity, on-site consumption facilities, workplace policies, product potency and the incorporation of current medical cannabis businesses into the recreational market, among others. “The political landscape on this subject of cannabis has shifted pretty dramatically,” Sen. Brian Feldman (D), sponsor of the Senate bill, said. “We’re not out front of the country by any stretch. Instead, we’ve taken a very deliberate, methodical approach since enacting medical cannabis program of ours almost a decade ago.” “Now our job is to create the regulatory framework to make it work in the best possible way drawing on some of the mistakes, candidly, that were made in terms of our medical cannabis program rollout and lessons learned from other states…that preceded us,” he said.