Maryland Looks To Further Decriminalize Marijuana

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According to a recent Pew Research, a majority of Black Americans support the legalization of marijuana in the United States. Nearly 60 percent of Black people, U.S.-born and immigrants, Democrats and Republicans, say that marijuana should be legalized for medical and recreational use. This national trend is also reflected in Maryland, an increasingly diverse state that may be on the cusp of electing its first African American governor. 

“For decades, overly restrictive cannabis laws have been a pipeline to prison that have disproportionately impacted people of color. Legalizing recreational cannabis in Maryland puts us on a path to reform our outdated drug laws and create more equity in our justice system,” said Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, according to a CNN article. “Our views and research on cannabis have changed; federal laws have changed. It’s time for our policies to do the same.”

The latest Baltimore Sun poll shows, of those Maryland residents surveyed, 69 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of Republicans will support the reform bill. If the reform bill passes, residents 21 years old and older will be legally allowed to use and possess marijuana. Under this bill, marijuana can be taxed, and regulated by the state. In 2014, Maryland decriminalized the possession of 10 grams of marijuana. Additionally, in 2013 Maryland authorized the use of medical marijuana.  

Generally speaking, a lot of ethnic groups smoke marijuana, but Black and Latinos are the ones that are over-criminalized for its use. Of those who participated in a survey, national data shows that 19 percent of white people who are 18 years or older use marijuana, 20 percent of Black people, and 15 percent of Latinos. In this same age group, 55 percent of white people report using it for a lifetime, 46 percent of Black people, and 37 percent of Latinos. However, 16 percent of White people 21 years and older use marijuana, 12 percent of Latinos, and 17 percent of Black people. White people’s lifetime use of marijuana plateaus at 55 percent, Black people’s lifetime use also plateaus at 46 percent, and Latinos’ lifetime use slightly decreases to 35 percent. 

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Maryland police officers arrested 1,072 people for marijuana possession. However, 59 percent of those arrested were Black people, while only 39 percent of those arrests were of White people, according to a document produced by the Maryland Department of Legislative Services. Most of those individuals arrested were 21 years or older. 

But it’s not only the negative impact of incarceration that harms Black and Latino communities. It is the afterlife of being incarcerated. Formerly incarcerated people face immense challenges integrating back into society. They have a difficult time finding stable employment, and housing. Afrieda Hylton, a Prince George’s County resident, and activist, sons were negatively impacted by imprisonment. Hylton, who is 66 years old, said both of her sons, when they were younger, were incarcerated for marijuana possession. 

Hylton said she remembers it being really hard for her sons to get jobs after being incarcerated. “When you fill out that application, the first thing they ask is “Have you ever been locked up?” explained Hylton, who works with formerly incarcerated people at Progressive Maryland. “Currently, I think businesses are not supposed to do that,” she continued. “ But from talking to other people, they still do.” 

Hylton said for a long time she felt embarrassed to talk about her older two son’s imprisonments. “I didn’t want people to make me feel worse than I already felt,” she explained.

Hylton hopes that Marylanders will vote yes to legalizing marijuana. She said that the drug is also suitable for medical use. Her friend, she told me, struggles with chronic pain, and sometimes uses the drug to ease the pain.

Maryland has also taken steps to decriminalize the smell of marijuana. If police officers smelled marijuana from a vehicle – they could lawfully search you. However, in May 2022, some of Maryland’s public defenders challenged that ruling. Now, The Maryland Police Department can not use the smell of marijuana as justification to stop and search someone.

"Because an officer cannot tell by the smell of marijuana alone that a person is involved in criminal activity, we hold that the odor of marijuana, by itself, does not provide reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop," Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff wrote in the opinion, according to Delmarva Now.