Medical Legislation: HB 881 SB 923 (April 14, 2014)
(Joyce Strand, Executive Director)
Enforcement Agency: Bureau of Enforcement and Compliance
The State of Maryland has been at the forefront of cannabis legalization in the mid-Atlantic though there have been expected delays from the time of legislation being signed by Governor Martin O'Malley until the first dispensaries officially opened for business in December 2017 and continuing until today.
Adult-use, recreational legalization efforts have been thwarted so far because a ballot initiative or referendum (used in most all other legal recreational states) is not an option in Maryland and the legislative angle is typically convoluted.
There is an outside chance that a constitutional amendment, if somehow approved via supermajority in the Maryland House and Senate, could go to the voters for ratification, but getting even a majority of the General Assembly on board is still a stretch.
