Regular readers of the Blog are aware that Maryland has enacted some of the toughest gun laws in the country. We have published numerous articles on this topic, including the red tape inhibiting law-abiding citizens from owning guns and obtaining concealed carry permits. Truth be told, it’s near impossible for…
One year ago today Maryland made national headlines for officially decriminalizing simple marijuana possession, while back home the statewide buzz over decriminalization overshadowed each of last year’s new laws. The climate is vastly different this October 1st, as almost all the media attention is focused on an approaching hurricane rather…
As close as we are to fully functioning statewide medical marijuana, it still seems at times as if the day may never come. The Governor approved the General Assembly’s medical marijuana proposal almost six months ago, and applications for grower and distributor licenses are on the brink of being processed.…
Each step toward a viable medical marijuana program brings with it numerous unforeseen obstacles, and it’s been that way in Maryland since 2013. Two years ago lawmakers in Annapolis passed the state’s first medical marijuana program only to see zero institutions take them up on the offer. The legislature thought…
No jail or prison facility in the country should have a reputation. They should rarely appear in the news or be the topic of discussion. Rather, they should be like the best referees in football or the top umpires in baseball, who are seen but seldom heard from or remembered.…
Toward the end of the 2015 legislative session the General Assembly convincingly passed a modification of the marijuana decriminalization law. The modification served to cure an inherent defect in the 2014 decriminalization law by removing the possession of marijuana paraphernalia from the catalog of CDS criminal offenses. It was a…
State lawmakers have officially closed the books on the 2015 legislative session, and there will be a host of new criminal and traffic bills reaching the governor’s desk in the next few weeks. Some have progressed through both chambers with little fanfare, and others have attracted media attention from the…
When the legislature decriminalized small amounts of marijuana last year the celebration drowned out many of the law’s shortcomings. In last spring’s rush to push decriminalization to the governor’s desk, the legislature neglected to address certain collateral consequences of the new law. One of these consequences was the illogical relationship…
Each year hundreds of innocent people are terrorized by law enforcement’s overuse of their SWAT teams to effectuate searches and arrest warrants. These potentially traumatizing incidents are rarely publicized unless things truly go awry. The public never hears about a SWAT team arresting the wrong person, or destroying a bystander’s…
One of the major flaws of last year’s marijuana decriminalization bill was that it failed to address drug paraphernalia. For the past six months possessing less than 10 grams of pot in Maryland has been punishable only by a civil citation. These citations are not available for public inspection and…