{"id":53011,"date":"2022-02-17T12:45:50","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T20:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/17\/maryland-lawmakers-work-to-decriminalize-drug-paraphernalia\/"},"modified":"2022-02-17T13:46:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T21:46:00","slug":"maryland-lawmakers-work-to-decriminalize-drug-paraphernalia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/02\/17\/maryland-lawmakers-work-to-decriminalize-drug-paraphernalia\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Lawmakers Work To Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The governor vetoed similar legislation last session.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Hannah Gaskill, Maryland Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) and Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) are making their third attempt at decriminalizing drug paraphernalia in Maryland this legislative session.<\/p>\n

House Bill 481<\/a>, sponsored by Moon, would decriminalize the possession of syringes, hypodermic needles and any other tools necessary to introduce drugs into the body intravenously.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the legislation would reduce the penalty for possession from a maximum of four years in prison and a $25,000 fine to a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Under current law, the first offense penalty for heroin possession\u2014the drug inside the syringe\u2014is one-year imprisonment or a $5,000 fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis high risk for those carrying syringes leads to what we\u2019ve heard\u2026police complaining about the risk of pricks from people hiding them when they\u2019re being searched, from people sharing dirty needles because they\u2019re now a scarce resource and people dumping them in public places because they don\u2019t want to get caught with them and risk four years,\u201d Moon said during a bill hearing in the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Its cross-file,\u00a0Senate Bill 509<\/a>, was heard in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Moon said that the intent of the bill is to assist harm reduction organizations in their effort to reduce instances of drug users participating in dangerous behaviors as the state confronts both the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Ricky Morris Sr. works with the Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, which distributes tools like Narcan and sterile syringes to people facing addiction. He told committee members Tuesday that he hears positive stories about his community outreach.<\/p>\n

But Morris also sees participants in his program express hesitancy when taking this potentially life-saving aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that I do hear from them is the fear of having these products,\u201d he said. \u201cThey always ask about, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t want to get arrested for having these products.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill, which passed out of both chambers during last legislative session, could assuage those fears.<\/p>\n

Moon and Carter co-sponsored the measure during the 2020 and 2021 legislative sessions.<\/p>\n

Neither version of the 2020\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0made it out of the House Judiciary Committee or the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Senate version<\/a>\u00a0of the 2021\u00a0bill<\/a> passed through both chambers along party lines but was vetoed by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an ill\u2013advised policy change that does nothing to remove drug dealers from our streets or reduce opioid\u2013related fatalities, and instead encourages the use and possession of paraphernalia associated with drug use,\u201d Hogan wrote in the bill\u2019s veto letter.<\/p>\n

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) tabled the bill when the legislature took on veto overrides during the 2021 special session, saying the \u201cvery complex issue\u201d needed more time before it could be enacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to make sure it\u2019s done the right way. It\u2019s an important issue that we really have to figure out,\u201d Ferguson said during an\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0before the special session gaveled in. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll take it up again in our coming session [in 2022]. We just have to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of\u00a0calls from advocates<\/a>, parliamentary rules prevented the bill from being brought back up for discussion during the special session.<\/p>\n

Moon and Carter made some adjustments to the legislation in an effort to address some of Hogan\u2019s and Ferguson\u2019s concerns. But Moon told his colleagues Tuesday that he is inclined to amend the bill back to its original language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope for your support once again, and maybe we can get people to think straight this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Maryland Matters.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

South Dakota Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization And Taxation Bills In Committee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Maryland Lawmakers Work To Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Maryland Lawmakers Work To Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The governor vetoed similar legislation last session. By Hannah Gaskill, Maryland Matters Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery) and Sen. Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore City) are making their third attempt at decriminalizing drug paraphernalia in Maryland this legislative session. House Bill 481, sponsored by Moon, would decriminalize the possession of syringes, hypodermicContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53012,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53011\/revisions\/53012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}