Medical Legislation: HB 881 SB 923 (April 14, 2014)
Enforcement Agency: Bureau of Enforcement and Compliance
Patients: 95,000
Caregivers: 7,000
The State of Maryland has been at the forefront of cannabis legalization in the mid-Atlantic despite the expected and unexpected delays from the time of legislation being signed by Governor Martin O'Malley until the first dispensaries officially opened for business in December 2017. According to state figures, registered patients generated $95.4 million in sales through November 30, 2018. Annual revenue from medical cannabis sales for 2019 will approach or exceed $200 million. Maryland added more than 3,700 new patients each month of 2019.
Adult-use, recreational legalization efforts have been thwarted so far because a ballot initiative or referendum (used in most all other legal recreational states) is not an option in Maryland and the legislative angle is typically convoluted and decidedly corrupt.
There is an outside chance that a constitutional amendment, if somehow approved via supermajority in the Maryland House and Senate, could go to the voters for ratification, but getting even a majority of the General Assembly on board is still a stretch.
