Maryland Senate approves bill easing access to medical cannabis

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Would-be medical marijuana patients in Maryland are a step closer to (finally) being able to access the herb after the state Senate gave their stamp of approval to a bill revamping the stalled state program 45 to 1.


As we’ve reported earlier this week, the Senate did make some major changes to the House-approved bill. Among those was removing a limit of ten growers and allowing for as many as 94 state-approved distributors. The state Senate also would require distributors and producers be separate entities.
The Maryland House and Senate will now meet in a conference committee and iron out some of the differences.
Maryland approved medical marijuana in 2013, but the program is so restrictive that nobody really considers Maryland a true medical marijuana state. The program currently requires state univerisities to run cannabis research programs and administer cannabis to patients on a trial basis. None of the state universities would agree to participate, however, stalling the program and frustrating patients and activists and pushing the state legislature into action.

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