Maryland

A former Baltimore lawmaker admitted to accepting bribes related to cannabis, alcohol, and opioid regulations. She was recently sentenced to two years in prison.

Due to a recent ruling, the smell of cannabis alone will no longer be grounds for arrest in Maryland. The ruling does not prevent officers from searching a vehicle based on the smell of cannabis, however.

Recent data released by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission shows that just 10 percent of the state’s cannabis industry investors are people of color.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vetoed a bill last week that would have blocked some cannabis convictions from public view.

A Maryland medical cannabis dispensary owner has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission over the agency’s refusal to allow out-of-state residents to obtain a state medical cannabis ID.

The Maryland town of Hancock is being forced to pay back a $600,000 federal renovation loan after the town rented the rehabbed facility to a medical cannabis company.

Data shows that Maryland’s medical cannabis industry has generated about $21.7 million in tax revenue for the state.

Cannabis regulators in Maryland plan to hire private firms to investigate the state’s licensing review process and to verify information contained in the applications submitted by high-ranking businesses.

The East Coast’s first commercial outdoor cannabis crop has been harvested in Maryland; licensed producers in the area typically grow indoors and in greenhouses.

A hemp farm in Whitefield, Maine has opened its doors as a pick-your-own establishment; it’s the first farm in Maine to do so and is believed to be the second publicly accessible hemp farm in the nation.

Maryland’s latest medical cannabis licensing round has been delayed due to an allegedly flawed application process that blocked many applicants from submitting all of the necessary materials on time.

The executive director of Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Commission has resigned as regulators are in the process of awarding 14 new cultivation and processing licenses with the goal of increasing the industry’s diversity.

In a unanimous ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals said that police cannot use cannabis odor alone as justification for conducting a personal search during a vehicle stop; vehicle searches, however, are still allowed.

The legislative task force assigned to consider the logistics of adult-use cannabis legalization in Maryland has convened for the first time; the task force’s findings will influence whether or not Maryland pursues adult-use legislation next year or turns the issue over to voters via a ballot initiative.

The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy will offer the nation’s first master’s degree program in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics. Courses will take place online and at Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland.

Applications are flooding in for Maryland’s 14 new medical cannabis operator licenses; the additional licenses are aimed at increasing the number of minority- and women-owned businesses in the industry.

Maryland cannabis operator Curio Wellness has withdrawn the lawsuit filed late last month against the state’s Medical Cannabis Commission over its plan to issue new cannabis licenses to minority-owned companies.

Maryland medical cannabis firm Curio is filing suit against the state Medical Cannabis Commission for allegedly violating its own rules by soliciting license applications without first completing a supply and demand survey.

State’s attorney Marilyn Mosby announced her office will no longer prosecute cannabis crimes and is attempting to vacate thousands of previous and pending cannabis convictions.