Sometimes the frontier between legal and illegal shifts abruptly, with the government’s attitude going from “never, never, never” to “OK, we’ll give it a try.”
It wasn’t long ago that County Executive Steve Schuh made an unsuccessful attempt, in the face of the state-level decision to allow medical marijuana in Maryland, to keep the growing and the selling of the drug out of Anne Arundel County.
Now it’s possible medical cannabis will be grown in the county – and that the security for this will be overseen by the former sheriff who ran against Schuh for county executive in 2014.
If you want impeccable law-and-order credentials, you can hardly do better than George Johnson. On top of 22 years rising through the ranks of the county police department and three terms as sheriff, he was also the superintendent of the state Natural Resources Police.
Johnson, as we reported Sunday, spent decades “on the other side of the fence” enforcing the state’s marijuana laws. Then, he said, he met Annapolis resident Gail Rand, founder of the pro-medical cannabis group Stop the Seizures, and “made the conscious decision to change my opinion ”
“I know this is somewhat, in some people’s eyes, a culture shock to allow this to take place,” Johnson said. “But surprisingly there are just as many people who are out there who understand that medical marijuana is something that we need to take a look at and embrace it to a point that people who are suffering medical conditions can benefit from it.”
Perhaps it is not as surprising as Johnson thinks. A June poll by Quinnipiac University found support for allowing cannabis to be prescribed for medical purposes running at 89 percent, with 54 percent favoring outright legalization of marijuana.
Maryland is not ready to go that far. But it is striking how swiftly the argument over medical marijuana has shifted from whether to allow it at all to whether the potentially lucrative licenses are being distributed fairly. A Bethesda-based company passed over for a license has sued, claiming the state commission involved violated its own rules by awarding licenses to lower ranked-applicants in order to get more geographic diversity. Other complaints have centered on the fact that most of the 30 preliminary licenses awarded so far have gone to companies headed by white men.
Such problems will be worked out, the dispensaries and growing and processing facilities will open – and it will be important, as Johnson said, for them to be kept under “the strictest controls.”
Actually, we think the change, whatever the benefits to those with seizure disorders and other medical problems, may have far less day-to-day effect than opponents imagined. But how many thought the state would go as far it has, or as quickly?
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Our Say – Johnson Part Of Cannabis ‘Culture Shock’
Author: Staff
Contact: 410-268-5000
Photo Credit: Joshua McKerrow
Website: Capital Gazette
