Pubdate: Sun, 02 Aug 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Michael Dresser

FOR RURAL MARYLAND, CANNABIS OFFERS JOBS

Hagerstown Residents Say Yes to Medical Marijuana

HAGERSTOWN - Washington County is a proudly conservative place. 
Voters haven't backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and 
same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago.

But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to 
put a medical marijuana production plant here, the county's five 
county commissioners - Republicans all - passed a resolution 
unanimously supporting the plan.

Residents in Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news 
in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to 
recreational use.

"I think it's all right as long as it's only for medical. I don't 
want a lot of potheads," said Leo Myers, 61, a security worker at the 
Mack Truck plant.

It isn't just compassion for suffering patients that is driving the 
acceptance of medical marijuana in Washington County, though that is 
one factor. Here and in other rural counties from Western Maryland to 
the Eastern Shore, officials are looking at cannabis 
grower-processors as sources of jobs rather than purveyors of vice.

Unemployment in this county has eased since it soared into double 
digits during the recession. But at 6.1 percent, the rate is still 
higher than the statewide average of 5.6 percent. And many residents 
have to commute 90 minutes or more to jobs in or near Washington. 
Decent-paying jobs closer to home are much in demand.

"Out in Western Maryland, we've been deprived and depressed a lot," 
said Commissioner John Barr. That history has helped shape reaction 
to the possibilities created by Maryland's legalization of marijuana 
for medical purposes.

"We view it as an economic development opportunity," Barr said.

Green Thumb representatives who briefed the commissioners before last 
month's vote said the facility would employ 30to50employeesinitsfirst 
year, and would expand to 200 workers in a new 175,000 square-foot 
plant in two to four years. They predicted it would bring a $4 
million to $7 million boost to the local economy.

That is hardly an economic panacea, but it represents a significant 
lift for a county still reeling from 650 layoffs at a Citigroup 
mortgage servicing center and the closing of Unilever's Good Humor 
ice cream plant, with its 450 jobs, in recent years.

'A lot of interest'

The board's action illustrates how quickly attitudes are changing 
across Maryland about the medicinal use of cannabis - the industry's 
preferred term and one that was written into state law this year.

"There's a lot of interest all over the state," said Hannah Byron, 
executive director of Maryland's Medical Cannabis Commission. 
Creation of medical cannabis industry heads into final stage

The General Assembly voted to allow medical marijuana in 2013, but 
under terms so restrictive that there were no takers. Lawmakers 
overhauled that bill in 2014 and again this year, setting up a 
regulatory system that has attracted the interest of investors.

The change came after lawmakers in Annapolis heard testimony from 
medical experts, cancer patients, parents of children with seizure 
disorders and others who believe that cannabis products could relieve 
suffering for many patients.

The revised law establishes two tiers of tightly regulated businesses 
to provide cannabis to patients recommended by a physician. Up to 15 
companies will be licensed to grow the plants and use them to make 
pharmaceutical products. The law also allows 94 dispensaries - two 
for each state Senate district - for retail sales.

The commission that lawmakers set up to run the program has drafted 
regulations that are expected to become final next month. Soon after, 
the panel will begin taking applications for grower-processor 
licenses. The commission is expected to award those licenses in December.

Byron said that besides urban areas and Washington County, the 
commission has fielded inquiries from potential grower-processors in 
Harford, Frederick, Allegany and Garrett counties as well as several 
locations on the Eastern Shore.

The interest in locating such facilities in rural areas has been seen 
in other states that have legalized medical cannabis with licensed 
producers, said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy 
Project in Washington.

"From a business standpoint and a regulatory standpoint, it makes 
sense to go to places that have lower population densities and 
affordable property and fewer zoning restrictions," he said.

The vote in Washington County came after company officials outlined 
their business plan for commissioners and explained the tight 
security measures they intend to put in place. Cannabis institute 
offers how-to for launching marijuana business

Green Thumb officials said the company won licenses for three 
cannabis facilities in Illinois but decided to open only two. The 
company hired Terry Gainer, a former sergeant-at-arms of the U.S. 
Senate and Illinois State Police director, as its security consultant.

Gainer told the commissioners the proposed facility outside 
Hagerstown would have around-the-clock guard service, electronic 
surveillance and extensive background checks of all employees. He 
said employees would be restricted to their own work areas and would 
not be permitted to move through the plant.

"The likelihood of diversion of product is slim or none," he said.

Commissioner LeRoy E. Myers Jr. praised Green Thumb's presentation, 
noting that the company did not have to seek the board's endorsement.

"They're here because they know it's a tender subject - at least for 
rural Maryland," Myers said.

Byron said the Washington County commissioners' support will carry 
some weight in the state licensing competition.

"It's not required, but I think the support from the local county 
officials is very important," she said.

Sterling Crockett, a partner in Green Thumb's GTI Maryland 
subsidiary, said he did not think the process could have gone any better.

"We don't really see it as a liberal-conservative issue. We look at 
it as more of a health-related issue," he said.

That is how many in Hagerstown see it.

Nicole Draheim, 45, said she has a brother-in-law who has brain 
cancer. "If something were to help him, I don't think I could be 
against it," she said.

Draheim added that she wants to see medical use tightly regulated and 
opposes moves to permit recreational use.

"As the mother of a teenager, that scares me," she said.

Danielle Grove, 31, of Clear Spring has a friend whose child has a 
seizure disorder, a condition that proponents believe medical 
cannabis can help.

State Del. Neil C. Parrott, a Washington County Republican, is one of 
the few local elected officials who oppose the facility. He said that 
if he had been a commissioner, he would have voted no - in spite of 
the company's promises of jobs and tight security.

Interviewed about the possibility of a medical cannabis facility 
constructed in rural Maryland, clockwise: Isiah King of Hagerstown, 
Evelyn Monnett of Hagerstown, Michelle Carpenter of Hagerstown, 
Nicole Draheim of Hagerstown are all in favor.

Parrott expressed concern that medical cannabis has not been approved 
by the Food and Drug Administration and remains illegal under federal 
law - though the Obama administration has taken a tolerant view of 
state efforts to allow it. Parrott is also skeptical of the claims 
made by proponents of the drug's benefits.

"It's not based on science - certainly not enough science that the 
FDA has approved any part of the marijuana plant," he said.

Commissioner Barr said he received some complaints about the county 
action, but not as many as he expected. He noted that the proposed 
facility would be in an industrial park off Interstate 81, with no 
homes or churches nearby.

"As long as it's not in their backyard, people don't care anymore," Barr said.

Other rural Maryland counties, where land is less expensive than in 
metropolitan Baltimore and Washington, also are seeing interest.

In Allegany County, an aspiring entrepreneur said he has been meeting 
with elected officials about a plan to grow organic cannabis and turn 
it into medical products in an indoor-outdoor operation in a remote 
area east of Cumberland.

"Overall, folks have been very positive," said Casey Callister, chief 
executive of Vast Organic Farms.

Bill Valentine, president of the Allegany County commissioners and a 
supporter of medical marijuana, said Vast Organic and one other 
company, which he declined to name, have approached the county and 
outlined proposals for cannabis operations. He's heard that others 
have been looking at potential sites but said the county has no 
intention of "picking winners and losers."

"Right now, we're going to treat it as any other business that's 
interested in coming to the county," he said. "We don't plan on 
putting up any roadblocks to any of the applicants."

In Easton, the Town Council signed off in June on a plan by 
Colorado-based CBD Wellness Group to locate a cannabis growing and 
processing facility in a former Black & Decker plant in the Talbot County seat.

"It fills up a 240,000-square-foot building that's been empty ever 
since Black & Decker left 24 years ago," said Easton Mayor Bob 
Willey. "It also provides about 80 jobs for the local economy."

Barr said he has a hard time believing how quickly attitudes have 
changed toward medical marijuana.

"If you'd have asked me five years ago about this, I would have said 
you're out of your mind," he said. "Probably three years ago."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom