New Maryland laws take effect on October 1, 2014! We will be publishing a series of posts highlighting a few of the newly enacted laws. Please note that this series is just a small sampling of the new laws enacted by the 2014 Legislative Session. To read about more laws resulting from the 2014 session, see the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2014 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services of the General Assembly of Maryland.
Senate Bill 364, Ch. 158 “makes the use or possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a fine, rather than a crime subject to imprisonment or a fine.”
Senate Bill 923, Ch. 256/House Bill 881, Ch. 240 expands the State of Maryland’s “medical marijuana program to allow qualifying patients to obtain medical marijuana through persons other than academic medical centers.” In addition, Senate Bill 923/House Bill 881 also “expand[s] the purpose and responsibilities of the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission”, which was established in 2013, “to include the registration of certifying physicians as well as conducting research on issues and disseminating information related to the medical use of marijuana, limit the number of licensed growers, and specify the process by which a qualifying patient may obtain medical marijuana, including provisions related to issuing identification cards for qualifying patients and their caregivers.”
Note that all quotations, unless noted otherwise, are attributable to the 90 Day Report – A Review of the 2014 Session published by the Department of Legislative Services of the General Assembly of Maryland, which is available online at http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/Pubs/LegisLegal/2014rs-90-day-report.pdf.
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