Congratulations to everyone who helped make this day possible. Del. Dan Morhaim, Sen. Jamie Raskin, and Sen. David Brinkley worked tirelessly to secure their colleagues’ support. Allied drug policy organizations were also instrumental in helping achieve this victory. Finally, and most importantly, brave patients and their loved ones came from all over the state to courageously share their stories with legislators and members of the media. We simply would not be here without their efforts.

This is a proud day for MPP. We’ve been leading the lobbying effort in Maryland for a decade, securing passage of the original Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act, and now today’s improvement legislation. And we’ll be back next year to help pass a comprehensive law that includes legal access for patients and protection from arrest.

Thank you for all your support!

Dan Riffle, Former Del. Don Murphy, and Karen O'Keefe

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In addition, this bill would create a study panel of policy and health experts to look into the best ways to implement a comprehensive medical marijuana program in Maryland in the future.

While the overall bill is less than what we hoped for, it is definitely a step in the right direction. After all, anything that can help keep a patient out of jail is a good thing. The creation of the study panel bodes extremely well for all the medical marijuana patients in the state as well. It is certainly an indicator that lawmakers are willing to work with us on this issue, and are being responsive to the overwhelming support for such a program in Maryland.

The bill is now awaiting Gov. Martin O’Malley’s signature, which he has already promised.

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According to today’s Baltimore Sun, a new business in Maryland is offering parents the services of trained, drug-sniffing dogs. Parents who are concerned about their children hiding drugs at home – and apparently unable to have simple, honest and well, healthy conversations with their kids about drugs – can, for “about $200 an hour,” rent specially trained canines to come into their homes and “within seconds, detect even the tiniest whiff of narcotics.”

Gimme a frickin’ break.

This approach is so stupid that even a spokesperson for the National Institute of Drug Abuse (a prohibitionist stronghold) was quick to say so.

The best way for parents to handle a child’s potential drug problem begins with a good old-fashioned conversation rather than a drug-sniffing dog, says Elizabeth Robertson, the National Institute on Drug Abuse‘s chief of prevention research.

“Given everything we know about substance abuse prevention, what you want to do with your kids is build trust and communication,” she says. “This seems like a tactic that would disrupt trust.”

[…] Baltimore parent Genny Dill agrees with Robinson. Upon hearing of the service, she says slowly, and with increasing notes of incredulity, “No. Really? Crazy. Absolutely crazy. That’s a whole new level of distrust.”

The mother of a 17-year-old girl, Dill says she has no trouble peeking at her daughter’s text messages and e-mail. Though she’s wondered if her daughter has tried pot, or been offered drugs, Gill is fairly certain that by hiring a drug-sniffing dog, she’d ruin their relationship.

“They’re never going to love you again,” she says. “Well, maybe they’d love you, but they will seriously not trust you as a parent, and when they’re teenagers, that’s a terrible time for that to happen.”

Sadly, the true motivation behind such an enterprise – which is modeled after similar businesses in other states, according to the article – is almost certainly not a concern for the wellbeing of young people, or for healthy parent-child relationships, but rather, good, old-fashioned profit. The business, “Dogs Finding Dogs,” has been around for three years and “until now has used the skills of search dogs to find missing pets,” according to the Sun, “helping to reunite nearly 300 wayward dogs and cats with their frantic owners.” Somewhere along the line they probably realized they needed to expand their business model, and luckily many of their canine employees were equipped with a particular skill – finding drugs!

Among the program’s supporters is Michael Gimbel, a Baltimore County substance abuse counselor who has repeatedly spoken out against passing a medical marijuana law in Maryland (and whose latest DVD is on sale for just $59.95 plus shipping!).

One thing not mentioned in the article is how many parents have actually paid for the service of having strangers and dogs comb through their property, alienate their children, and violate their privacy. I hope the number is low, if not zero. (And, by the way, if there aren’t any customers, then this article amounts to nothing more than free advertising for a business trend that does not yet even exist).

As for the dogs – well, at least the people looking for drugs aren’t shooting them this time.

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The bill’s main sponsor in the House is Del. Dan Morhaim (D-Baltimore County), who, as an internist and emergency medical physician, has been very effective at explaining why patients and doctors need access to a range of treatment options, including marijuana.

As proposed, the bill would allow patients with a “debilitating medical condition” to obtain marijuana from state-run distribution centers with the recommendation of a doctor with whom they have a long-standing relationship.

However, the new bill would not allow patients to grow their own marijuana, and they would have to try other treatment options before marijuana.

But if passed, the new law would be a vast improvement for medical marijuana patients in Maryland. Under current state law, patients are provided with a limited affirmative defense in court, but they have no protection from arrest or a criminal conviction, and no safe and reliable access to their medicine.

Under this new proposal—which has backing from a diverse and bipartisan group of legislators and has so far seen no opposition—those patients would no longer be treated as criminals, and they would have safe access to the medicine they need.

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The answer is 13. They are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

But many media—as well as some government sources—incorrectly counted Maryland as the 14^th state to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prosecution. Unfortunately, Maryland’s law does no such thing; the Free State has not yet earned a place among states with effective medical marijuana laws.

That’s because the Darrell Putnam Compassionate Use Act, signed into law in 2003 by then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R), falls short of the laws passed by the 13 medical marijuana states in many respects.

Here’s why: Maryland’s law protects patients from jail, but it does not protect them from arrest and does not give them any means of safe access to their medicine. Even patients using marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation are still subject to arrest, which has forced many to appear in court to prove they use marijuana because of medical necessity. While the law does protect seriously ill patients from any prison sentences if they can prove a medical necessity, it still allows for fines up to $100, and it gives prosecuted patients no recourse to seek refunds for legal fees. In many instances, the fate of medical marijuana patients in Maryland depends solely on their legal representation.

A proposal to create a state task force that would have re-evaluated Maryland’s current medical marijuana law died in committee earlier this year. But until reforms are passed, Maryland should not be included in the list of medical marijuana states.

Read more about Maryland’s medical marijuana laws and the latest legislative developments here.

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