Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
Two years ago Maryland became one of 22 states to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, and just months ago lawmakers modified to the program to make it functional. Many of the other states already have fully functioning medical marijuana programs, with numerous privately owned dispensaries, but Maryland’s program is still in the planning stages. As of now it looks like it could be up to 18 months until the first private dispensaries open their doors locally, and when they do, there is now hope that the federal government will stay out of the way. Anyone doing business in the medical or recreational marijuana industry faces the constant threat of the feds (read the DEA) busting down their doors and closing up their shops. This threat is not particularly imminent as the Department of Justice and the POTUS himself have called off the dogs as of late, but make no mistake about it, the threat still remains. But a recent vote in the U.S. House of Delegates may be the first step toward a permanent resolution in the state versus federal marijuana law conflict.
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Federal Lawmakers Warming Up To Medical Marijuana
While Baltimore City holds the dubious honor of being the heroin capital of the state, it is not the only city in Maryland struggling with this highly addictive and increasingly popular drug. The Blog posted and article more than a year ago about the dramatic increase in heroin use in suburbs, and the trend has continued in 2014. Anne Arundel County is one area that has been hit especially hard so far this year. County Police have reported 172 heroin overdoses since January 1st, with 22 of these being fatal. 28 of these overdoses occurred within the city limits of Annapolis, with 5 being reported on one day in April. City and county police are aware of the problem, and have taken affirmative steps to wage war on the drug. County police officers now carry the anti-overdose drug, Narcan, in order to prevent heroin overdoses from becoming fatal, and Annapolis officers will soon follow suit. But law enforcement’s broader goal is not simply to prevent deadly heroin overdoses; it is to eradicate the drug entirely.
Drunk driving has become the most hotly debated and visible crime in the entire country. The amount of media attention and lobbyist money that is directed toward DUI education and prevention simply has no comparison. Sure, the war on drugs is trudging along, and sucking up millions of taxpayer dollars, but it targets dozens of substances, and not one single offense. Drunk driving stands alone for a variety of reasons including the fact that it is so common, and its defendants do not fall within a specific age or socioeconomic group. Teenagers, professionals, celebrities, cops, politicians etc. can be the defendants, and unfortunately the victims of this offense. All the media and lobbyist attention does not go unnoticed by lawmakers and state agencies, and as a result there are pages of laws and regulations governing DUI policy. The courts are charged with the task of interpreting each of these regulations, and this past week Maryland’s highest court released a lengthy opinion after being called upon to do just that.
The Baltimore City Council recently voted 11-2 to impose a strict nightly curfew on children and young teens throughout the city limits. The mayor has already said she will approve the new bill, and it could end up becoming law by the middle of this summer. Bills signed by the mayor typically become law 30 days thereafter. The city currently has a curfew in place, which prohibits anyone under the age of 17 to be out on the streets past 11 at night on weekdays and midnight on weekends. But the proposed curfew is considerably more restrictive, and specifically targets various age groups. Upon becoming law, children and teens under the age of 14 will be required to be off the streets and indoors by 9 p.m. each day of the year. Teenagers between the ages of 14 and 16 will be permitted to stay out until 10 p.m. on school nights, and until 11 p.m. on all other nights. The new city legislation also increases the penalty for the parents of children that are found to be in violation. Where the old penalty carried a fine of up to $300, the new law will authorize a fine of up to $500. There is a provision that allows the fine to be waived if the parent attends counseling sessions with their child.
Each year as the summer months approach the Maryland State Police tries to send a clear message that DUI enforcement will be a top priority. This year the MSP sent that message by way of a DUI saturation patrol during a targeted Cinco De Mayo enforcement. Numerous state police installations as well as the State Police Impaired Driving Effort or SPIDRE were out in full force this past Monday to specifically look for impaired and unsafe drivers. When the dust settled on the morning of May 6th, troopers had tallied 81 drunk driving arrests, which is nearly eight times more arrests than on normal weekday. Troopers also issued over 700 citations and over 1,000 speed violation warnings. And yes, we are surprised as well that the state troopers issued more warnings than tickets. The MSP issued a press release the following day, but it did not seem to pick up a ton of media attention, as only one outlet that we could find published the story. Nonetheless, this is definitely a sign of more targeted enforcements and press releases to come. And with the Memorial Day holiday just weeks away you can bet that another DUI saturation patrol is on the horizon.
A popular argument against the legalization of marijuana is that our roads will become packed with stoned drivers, and thus become more dangerous. While this argument lacks any sort of baseline data, it has appealed to those who are set on condemning medical and recreational pot use at all costs. It did not prove persuasive though in Maryland’s 2014 legislative session, as medical marijuana easily passed. The revised medical program will become law in October, and could be fully functioning within 18 months. But legalization for recreational use will undoubtedly be the hot topic in our state’s next few legislative sessions (until it becomes law, possibly within the next 3-5 years), and the marijuana DWI argument is sure to surface. Maryland already incorporates drug use in its DWI statute, but there are no specific provisions, which refer to marijuana testing and legal limits. We can look to other states to answer some of the questions about how the legislature, police officers, and prosecutors will handle this issue.
The 2014 legislative session has come to an end, and with it went the daily criminal law related news stories coming out of Annapolis. We enjoyed keeping our readers up to date on the dynamic marijuana policy proposals, and will continue to follow the progress of our new laws. But the Blog must now move on without the legislature in session, and for our first post we will turn our attention to the relatively benign topic of ranking the safest places to live in Maryland. The idea to write about this particular topic came from an article written by a national residential real estate company, who regularly blogs just like we do. The company, Movoto, just published an article, which ranks 35 different places in the state by how safe they are. While the article does provide some insight, it must be taken with a grain of salt. So before you cancel your vacation to Ocean City this summer (OC ranked last out of the 35 in safety) it is necessary to take a closer look at these rankings.
The dramatic comeback for marijuana decriminalization in Maryland is now complete, as the Governor signed the General Assembly’s bill into law earlier this week. Come October it will no longer be a crime for a person over the age of 18 to possess less than ten grams of pot. Despite the overwhelming support of state lawmakers (the bill easily passed in the house and senate) and the public, decriminalization is not without its detractors. State prosecutors are one group that has expressed criticism over the new law, and their reasons are not so obvious. You would expect state prosecutors to have a more conservative, less tolerant approach to certain behaviors, which our laws have historically deemed as crimes. On the other hand, the prosecutor’s criticism of decriminalization is not simply general moral opposition, but rather concern over the implementation of this new law. A close examination of the bill certainly supports some of these concerns.
This week the state senate for a second time voted to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana. The bill included a few modifications, which the house inserted over the weekend in order to satisfy enough delegates. Among the modifications is a provision that escalates the fine from $100 to $250 and then to $500 for a second and third offense respectively. In addition anyone who is charged with a third or subsequent offense will be summoned to appear for court, and if convicted may be ordered to complete a drug evaluation and follow up treatment. Offenders under the age of 21 who are charged with civil pot possession will also be summoned to appear in court. Simple pot possession for anyone under 18 is still a criminal offense that would be handled in the juvenile system. There is also a new provision that states all the fines collected by the District Court for these citations will go directly to the state health department, and can only be used for drug education programs. Governor O’Malley has already said that he’ll sign the bill into law when it crosses his desk, so decriminalization is certain to be law in Maryland within the next few months. However it’s not so certain just how the law will be implemented, and how efficiently the court system will be able to handle these new civil marijuana citations.
Marijuana dominated the media attention in the first three months of this year’s legislative session, but state lawmakers once again made little progress when it came time to vote. Today though, delegates will convene to conduct one last vote before we can say that the 2014 proposals to decriminalize pot in Maryland are shelved for the year. This past week a House committee shot down any hope of major marijuana reform taking place in the near future. This includes a pair of legalization bills sponsored by Delegate Anderson and Senator Raskin, and a pair of more publicized decriminalization bills sponsored by Delegate Mizeur and Senator Zirkin. Unfortunately the legalization bills never really had a chance of gaining momentum, but decriminalization actually won the senate’s approval, and by a wide margin. House support proved too difficult to garner, as decriminalization failed to make it out of committee and to the house floor for a full vote. But in a recent development, the bill received some last minute revival efforts, and lawmakers are meeting as this post is being published. So as of right now we still may see a bill to make simple pot possession a civil infraction actually come to O’Malley’s desk.