This state has been making strides over the past few years to fully legalize marijuana. Before California passed Proposition 215 in 1996 legalizing medical marijuana, no state in decades had countered the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. Currently, 22 other states and Washington, D.C., have made some forms of medical marijuana legal, and some states have either decriminalized small amounts of it or fully legalized it recreationally.
This state, by comparison, now has one of the most relaxed marijuana laws. In 2014, Gov. Martin O’Malley signed legislation to replace criminal penalties for marijuana with just a civil fine. In 2016, the General Assembly fully decriminalized marijuana, making both small amounts of marijuana and the possession of marijuana paraphernalia legal. All these policies are steps that appear to be leading to the inevitable full recreational legalization of marijuana in this state.
When the General Assembly first introduced and passed the full decriminalization law in 2015, it was vetoed by Gov. Larry Hogan. Though this veto was overridden and the legislation eventually passed, the ultimate takeaway from this is that Hogan clearly has no desire to fully legalize the drug yet. The Republican Party typically supports keeping marijuana illegal, and being that Hogan is a first-term Republican governor of a deep-blue state, he likely wasn’t going to support such drastic marijuana laws. He was honestly better off vetoing the legislation to protect his own image, knowing very well that the General Assembly would likely override it.
However, the interesting key to the puzzle is going to be what will happen if Hogan is re-elected. Winning a second term as governor would give Hogan much more room to make unpopular and difficult decisions. One of these, I believe, is going to be the full recreational legalization of marijuana. Democrats control this state, and many of them support the legalization of the drug. In fact, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, “54 percent of Marylanders want the legislature to go further and tax and regulate marijuana.”
As of now, four states and D.C. have legalized marijuana, and many other states are beginning to consider it as well. Obviously, there will always be two sides to the debate, but the states that have legalized it have generated huge revenues from taxing marijuana. However, many believe that legalization will put marijuana in the hands of people who aren’t supposed to have it. They also cite dangers in driving while high and the fact that soft drugs like marijuana may lead to the use of harder drugs.
I personally have formed no opinion on the subject due to the sheer amount of debate associated with legalization and the fact that the states that have legalized it have done so fairly recently, meaning the consequences of such legalization are not yet entirely clear.
I think that given this state’s recent strides in marijuana relaxation, it is inevitable that this state, as well as several other states, will soon follow suit of those that have already legalized the drug recreationally. It is clear that marijuana does not warrant a Schedule I drug classification by the federal government, and even many federal officials are beginning to realize this too. But marijuana still clearly has health and safety consequences, no matter how trivial some might think they are, and the people and representatives of this state ought to seriously consider the pros and cons of legalization before making the decision.
Kyle Campbell is a sophomore government and politics major. He can be reached at kcampbelldbk@gmail.com.
