Maryland lawmakers have filed legislation meant to clear up policies around on-site marijuana consumption businesses, while adding a new permit for temporary cannabis events.
While the legalization law that Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed in 2023 already contemplated social consumption sites where people could use marijuana, regulators are asking lawmakers to pass a measure with a series of amendments to clarify the rules.
In a summary of the proposal, the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) said the reforms are meant to clear up “ambiguous or conflicting provisions under current law, while maintaining the strong public health and safety protections, including the indoor smoking prohibition.”
“The departmental bill seeks to do this in large part by expanding market access to cannabis beverages through an event registration process,” it says.
To that point, the legislation—which was filed by the chairs of the Senate Finance Committee and House Economic Matters Committee on behalf of MCA—includes definitions and various mentions for what constitutes a “cannabinoid beverage” that could be offered at consumption lounges and temporary marijuana events. Such drinks could not contain more than 5mg of THC in a single serving.
The measures also stipulate that on-site cannabis consumption lounges can operate as food service facilities, meaning they’d be able to offer non-infused food products in addition to the approved single-serve marijuana items.
Smoking and vaping cannabis products would be prohibited for both on-site consumption sites and registered temporary events.
While people could consume cannabis edibles, including infused beverages, at the lounges, they would need to buy the products at the facility and could not bring them out of the space. People would also be barred from bringing in their own marijuana products purchased elsewhere into the consumption sites.
For the cannabis event rules that would be newly established under the bill, registrants would need to would need to partner with a separately licensed marijuana vendor, approved by MCA, in order to sell the products.
Neither on-site consumption lounge licensees nor cannabis event permits could be held by individuals who have a different marijuana license for retail, cultivation or processing.
Cannabis events could only last up to 48 hours over the course of a maximum four days.
Consistent with Maryland’s regulatory approach to marijuana legalization, social equity licenses will be prioritized under the proposed bill. Only social equity applicants would be able to apply for an on-site consumption lounge licenses until July 2028.
Officials have been consistently working to help the adult-use market mature and expand. And the state has seen success to that end, with Maryland yielding more than $22.3 million in tax revenue from adult-use marijuana sales during the second quarter of 2024—a 52 percent increase compared to the prior quarter.
Those latest figures came about two months after MCA announced that the state had reached a different marijuana milestone, with licensed retailers having sold more than $1 billion worth of legal marijuana products since the adult-use market opened in July 2023.
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The governor said last August that as the state works to build upon its marijuana legalization law, he will continue to “advocate for a sane and a standard federal policy,” including banking reform so that small cannabis businesses have access to capital.
Moore said that while he’s committed to ensuring that social equity is integral to Maryland’s cannabis market, and his recent mass pardon for past marijuana and paraphernalia convictions is part of that, it remains critical that federal reform advances.
The governor has been discussing his vision for cannabis reform frequently over the past couple months, as he promotes his recent mass pardon forgiving more than 175,000 marijuana and paraphernalia convictions.
That clemency was about more than addressing the public policy consequences of criminalization,” Moore said in a separate interview. As someone who was exposed to the criminal legal system at an early age, and having been a medical cannabis patient himself, he said there’s an important personal psychological impact of attaining that relief.
In July, Moore and the president of the NAACP also promoted the state’s historic mass marijuana pardon, which they said would unlock the economic potential of people targeted by criminalization. But the governor also stressed the need to get the word out about next steps for the majority of pardon recipients whose records weren’t automatically expunged by his clemency move.
Moore has also gained praise from the White House and other officials such as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) for his cannabis clemency move.
Meanwhile, local officials in Maryland’s most populous county recently said they’re moving to loosen marijuana policies for would-be police officers in an effort to boost recruitment amid a staffing shortage.
Maryland lawmakers have filed legislation meant to clear up policies around on-site marijuana consumption businesses, while adding a new permit for temporary cannabis events. While the legalization law that Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed in 2023 already contemplated social consumption sites where people could use marijuana, regulators are asking lawmakers to pass a measure with Read More
