Governor Wes Moore speaks on cannabis change days before new law takes effect

With days before the state’s law shifts on cannabis, lawmakers met in Ocean City for the summer conference of the Maryland Municipal League and key leaders discussed the change.

Over two-thirds of Maryland voters approved the ballot initiative regarding marijuana last year, legalizing the drug at the state level for recreational use for adults over the age of 21.

“The people of the state spoke overwhelmingly that they wanted that for us to move to recreational cannabis,” said Gov. Wes Moore, in an interview Tuesday at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center. “The message to young people is the law is not changed for you.”

The governor, who was elected last November on the same ballot as the cannabis question, said the state is opening the market within 80 days of cannabis reform laws passing the Legislature.

“We have got to make sure that all of our societal systems are moving in coordination, and that includes how we’re going to view law enforcement as a mechanism and as a tool,” said Moore, speaking after a police executive association breakfast that he attended.

More: Marijuana legalization almost here in Maryland and here's what you need to know

Possession law changes on Saturday, other laws have not

Under the new law, individuals may possess up to 1.5 ounces of the drug, primarily for use in private homes. Some municipalities such as Ocean City and Hagerstown, for examples, have banned use in cannabis cafes.

“The only thing that’s really changed is how law enforcement is going to view possession,” the governor said.

Of all the counties in the United States, Ocean City’s Worcester County along with another Eastern Shore county (Dorchester), and Calvert County in Southern Maryland had three of the top 10 highest arrest rates for marijuana possession in 2018.

The state, overall, recorded a racial disparity in marijuana possession arrest rates that year, too, with people who are Black being arrested at twice the rate of people who are white.

The state’s first Black governor said that other laws are still in place as new laws take effect.

“If other laws are being broken,” said Moore, “people will be held to account for those other laws being broken.”

More: State’s ‘top cop’ receives recognition from law enforcement leaders, governor

Under new law, children still not permitted to use cannabis

Emily Keller, the former mayor of Hagerstown who now leads the state’s Opioid Operational Command Center, said her organization coordinates the state’s plan for opioid overdoses. Another part of the health department is tasked with cannabis prevention efforts for children and education in schools, she said.

Despite the difference between opioids and cannabis, she too is thinking about education ahead of the July 1 switch.

“We’ll have to be thoughtful, especially when it comes to teaching kids,” said Keller, in an interview outside of the convention center, adding that development for people comes after 21.

The governor, a board member of a cannabis company until eight months before his election, reiterated this alteration in the law does not apply to children.

“This is about adult usage,” Moore said.

“If adults choose to participate, the law has changed for them,” he said, “but for young people, the laws have not changed for you.”

More: Maryland, top 5 nationally in opioid-related overdose death rates, seeks to change course

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Governor speaks on cannabis change days before new law takes effect