Maryland

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Maryland cannabis operator Curio Wellness has withdrawn the lawsuit filed late last month against the state’s Medical Cannabis Commission over its plan to issue new cannabis licenses to minority-owned companies.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