Pubdate: Sun, 15 Sep 2013
Source: Daily Times, The (MD)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Times
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/116
Author: Emilie Eastman

POT REFORM PUSH TO BE RENEWED

MD. Senator Will Reintroduce His Measure

ANNAPOLIS - If the nation's largest marijuana lobbying organization 
has its way, Maryland will legalize marijuana by 2017.

The Marijuana Policy Project announced this week that Maryland and 
nine other states will be targets of a push for reform.

That means legislation like the decriminalization bill introduced by 
state Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, may have a better chance 
of making progress in the next General Assembly session.

Zirkin's bill failed to come to a vote in the House this spring, but 
he plans to reintroduce the bill next year, and may even go a step 
further and propose legislation that would put the decision in 
voters' hands by referendum, he said.

"What I'm proposing is not some radical proposition," Zirkin said. 
"It's been done in a variety of states all across the country. The 
results have been studied. It's not a hard argument."

Zirkin's bill would have changed marijuana possession of less than 10 
grams from a criminal to a civil offense. Instead of facing up to 90 
days in jail and a $500 fine, perpetrators would pay a maximum $100 
fine. It was supported by a 30-16 vote in the Maryland Senate.

Zirkin said he met with representatives from the Marijuana Policy 
Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland to discuss 
plans for moving forward.

"We're very interested in supporting this bill," said Karen O'Keefe, 
director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project

During the next few years, Marylanders can expect increased public 
conversation about the topic as analysts from the organization 
testify in hearings, recruit witnesses and submit written testimony, 
she said. A portion of the $2 million to $5 million in donations the 
group receives every year could be designated for education and 
publicity initiatives in Maryland, O'Keefe said.

Maryland is one of 12 states that considered marijuana 
decriminalization bills this year, O'Keefe said. The biggest push for 
new legislation is happening in New England and in the western United 
States, with particular appeal among younger voters, she said.

In May, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill that authorized teaching 
hospitals and research centers in Maryland to distribute medical 
marijuana. The state also recently reduced penalties for marijuana 
possession less than 10 grams and authorized "medical necessity" as a 
legal defense for marijuana use. But while these changes constitute a 
small step forward, the impact may not be widely felt, O'Keefe said.

"Maryland has taken wary steps for medical marijuana," she said. 
"There are tiny programs and barely any patients qualify."

If Zirkin's bill passes next year, Maryland will be the 18th state to 
institute an alternative to incarceration for marijuana possession. 
Incarceration and enforcement of marijuana prohibition cost the state 
millions of dollars each year, according to a new report by the ACLU. 
In 2010, Maryland spent more than $160 million enforcing its 
marijuana possession policies. The state also had one of the highest 
per-capita marijuana possession arrest rates, with about half a 
million arrests in 2010, according to the ACLU.

But gaining support from the House may prove a challenge.

"I suspect the House Judiciary Committee will have to work long and 
hard to come up with an appropriate and intelligent bill," said 
Delegate Luiz Simmons, D-Montgomery.

Simmons said that while he is in favor of lessening penalties for 
marijuana possession and instituting fines instead of incarceration, 
he is concerned that Zirkin's bill makes no distinction between 
children and adult marijuana users.

"(The bill) treated 9-year-olds the same as people who are 90," he 
said. "I thought it was a terrible deficit. What I will be insisting 
on for my vote is that it addresses these issues."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom