Black Md. lawmakers push bills to diversify medical marijuana industry
Leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland have introduced legislation to restructure a burgeoning medical marijuana industry that has come under scrutiny for a lack of racial diversity.
Bills introduced this week would change the membership of the 16-person Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission to better reflect the diversity of the state, while requiring the agency to rescore applications for cultivation licenses and give extra weight for black-owned businesses.
Black state lawmakers have
criticized marijuana regulators for authorizing cultivation operations led almost entirely by white executives, despite provisions in the 2014 legalization law calling for a diversity among growers. They note that African Americans nationwide have been disproportionately locked up for marijuana offenses, and they say black-owned companies have been underrepresented in the lucrative legal industry.
The attorney general’s office has previously said state officials must demonstrate racial disparities in the medical marijuana industry or similar industries before offering racial preferences in licensing. The cannabis commission is
hiring a consultant to advise on whether to conduct such a study.
Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the black caucus, says details of the legislation are still being drafted.
She said the 15 companies already approved to grow marijuana would not lose their licenses under the bill, but would not be able to start operating until additional minority-owned businesses also were approved.
Glenn also said there is legislation in the works that would
aim to dissolve the commission outright and re-create it as a division of the state health department.
Paul Davies, chairman of the commission, blasted the proposals as detrimental for patients and said he would request a legal review.
“To introduce a bill that calls for dismantling the commission is not only an insult to the dedication of the commissioners who have volunteered an exorbitant amount of time to the program, but threatens the quality of the program and its very existence,” Davies said.
“Restarting the application review process is completely unjustified.”
Regulators have previously said they hope medical cannabis would hit dispensary shelves by the end of the year.
Democratic legislative leaders have yet to take a position on the new medical marijuana legislation. A spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who has assigned two top aides to help the black caucus address diversity issues in medical marijuana, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bills.
Well, Del Mills and her bunch are at it again. To review the bidding, the original proposal evaluation for licenses (grow/process/dispense) had all personal information redacted prior to going to the eval board. That is, the racial make up (and any other personal aspects of bidder leadership) were not known at the time of evaluation and ranking. Hence, it was a merit only eval.
What Mills wants is not diversity, she wants a set aside for just one of the special interest groups in her legislative district. That is, I don't believe she is advocating for Latino or Asian licenses....just for black owned teams. Or hell, I'm Jewish (at least by birth). We are a minority. Where's my set aside or special consideration?
The other thing Mills wants is to restart the whole stinking, many times delayed, very delinquent program in order to get her special interest set aside......fuck the patients, who cares about them, eh? She seems quite willing to use her threat to restart the program to extort the state into giving her what she wants.
This is just complete race based machine politics. Good thing our Governor, Larry Hogan, is very, very popular and has the political muscle to stop Mills from completely derailing the program. The level of "where's mine" selfishness in all of this is breathtaking.
Bills would end license suspension for marijuana possession
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginians convicted of marijuana possession would no longer automatically lose their driver’s license for six months under legislation moving through the General Assembly.
Existing state law mandates that when someone is convicted of a drug offense, the defendant’s license is suspended for six months. Under bills approved by the Senate and by a House subcommittee, that provision would no longer apply to adults convicted of simple possession of marijuana on a first offense.
On Thursday, the Senate passed its version of the legislation — SB 1091, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria and Republican Sen. Bill Stanley of Franklin County. The vote was 38 to 2.
That came one day after an identical proposal — HB 2051, introduced by Del. Les Adams, R-Chatham — cleared a subcommittee in the House. The Criminal Law Subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee voted unanimously in support of Adams’ bill.
Juveniles convicted of marijuana possession still would be subject to license suspension under the legislation. The bills would leave it up to the judge’s discretion to suspend the driver’s license of adult defendants.