Tag: Doug Donovan

Cannabuzz: Six-license limit per investor proposed for Maryland med-pot dispensaries

By Van Smith

Baltimore, Feb. 4, 2019

Baltimore County Republican state Sen. Chris West (42nd District) has proposed clarifying the law of Maryland medical-marijuana dispensary licenses to allow investors to hold interests in up to six dispensaries each.

Currently, the legislative intent of the dispensary-licensure regulations is to limit investors to one dispensary  license only, as previously reported by Doug Donovan of the Baltimore Sun, but national firms that have already invested in multiple Maryland dispensaries have argued that restriction applies only during the application process.

West’s proposal would settle the debate in favor of the national chains rather than force divestments from existing dispensary-management agreements that have taken force since the legal loophole was found and exploited.

Cannabizness: Del. Glenn’s bills to expand Maryland’s medical-cannibis program scheduled for hearing

By Van Smith

Baltimore, Jan. 23, 2019

Medical cannabis available in food and drink and for treating opioid addiction, with a larger group of licensed professionals allowed to certify patients – these expansions of Maryland’s legal-pot industry are envisioned by three bills now set for hearings before the Maryland General Assembly. Introduced before the start of this year’s session by one of the state’s pro-cannibis legislators, Baltimore City state Del. Cheryl Glenn (D-45th District), yesterday all three were set for hearings at 2pm on Jan. 29 before the House Health and Government Operations Committee in Annapolis

As previously reported by FSC, House Bill 17 would allow dispensaries to sell cannibis-laced food and drink to qualifying patients or caregivers under Maryland’s Medical Cannibis Commission (MCC). Physical therapists, psychologists, and physicians assistants would join the list of licensed professions represented on the MCC under House Bill 18, which also would allow members of those professions to certify MCC patients. Under House Bill 33, the MCC would be encouraged to approve patients with opioid use disorder for medical-cannibis certification – a proposal that may meet resistance, given the MCC’s official report, summarized recently by the Sun‘s Doug Donovan, which found only anecdotal evidence that cannibis helps opioid addicts.