Title:
Medical marijuana talks resume in Annapolis
Message:
Ask
your legislators to support workable medical marijuana legislation.
The Maryland Legislature is back in session, and you know what
that means: time to resume efforts to fix Maryland’s medical marijuana law.
Last year, the
legislature passed an MPP-backed measure to expand on current law by giving
patients diagnosed with debilitating illnesses a full affirmative defense for
possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. The bill also set up a workforce
tasked with submitting legislation to this year’s General Assembly that would
provide those patients with access to marijuana. In fact, MPP’s own Karen
O’Keefe was appointed by Governor O’Malley to the group.
Urge
your elected officials to support effective medical marijuana legislation.
Unfortunately, the group never found a consensus and decided
to submit two proposals to the legislature. You can read about those proposals
in this
Baltimore Sun editorial and in this
response from our sponsor, Del. Dan
Morhaim. It’s complicated, but in short, we believe a proposal that puts
academic research institutions, that rely heavily on federal funding, in charge
of distribution would prove unworkable. An independent commission with doctors
as gatekeepers would be preferable. A third bill, sponsored by Rep. Cheryl
Glenn (D-Baltimore), has
also been introduced.
Maryland law is getting better, but we’ve still got work to
do. Please take a moment to email
your legislators now and ask them to support a workable medical
marijuana law.
