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After another drawing by the Maryland Cannabis Administration in early March, another round of licenses for dispensaries, growers and processors has been distributed, with four coming to the Lower Shore.
Wicomico County was awarded two standard dispensary licenses, with the winners being Elevated Mind & Wellness, LLC, and DMV Exclusives. Worcester County was awarded one to Guru Ventures Inc., as was Somerset County with Kindequity, LLC.
As part of the drawing, other licenses were given in the categories of microdispensary, standard grower, microgrower, standard processor and microprocessor. Following the result, the state office contacted all the winners and confirmed they still wanted to proceed with the application process, which includes fees and other due diligence in accordance with state compliance.
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Legal marijuana is already big business in Maryland
The administration, formerly the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, sponsored a “post-legalization survey and report from Cannabis Public Policy Consulting” to examine similarities and differences in patient perceptions and behavior prior to and following legalization of cannabis in Maryland for adults 21 years old and over.
Although the state already legalized medical marijuana in 2017, the expansion to recreational use meant establishing a new framework for dispensaries to the general public. That also meant individual counties examined how they regulated such businesses.
According to data by the administration, marijuana already accounts for $177.1 million in sales, with an average price of $10 per gram. The average patient will spend an estimated $404 on a purchase. The cannabis flower still remains the most popular item, with vapes and edibles following close behind.
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Disputes linger about impact of legal marijuana in Maryland
Since the legalization of recreation marijuana on July 1, 2023, detractors of the policy have taken aim at the legal reasoning to reassign it as a lower scheduled controlled substance.
According to the American Addiction Centers, schedule 1 drugs are those “with no current medical use with high potential for abuse and/or addiction,” including those listed above. Schedule 2 drugs, like methadone, Demerol, Vicodin and OxyContin, are prescription drugs with “some medically acceptable uses, but with high potential for abuse and/or addiction.” Schedule 3 drugs, like Ketamine, Suboxone and some steroids, are “low to moderate potential for abuse and/or addiction, but less dangerous than schedule 1 or 2.”
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Schedule 3 drugs can be obtained through prescription, but generally are not available over the counter. There are also schedule 4 and 5 drugs that have viable medical uses with little to no risk of abuse or addiction.
Still, many proponents claim data and assertions by the American Addiction Centers are biased in their negative assessment that marijuana has “no current medical use with high potential for abuse and/or addiction.” They assert there is ample medical evidence to prove it has medicinal value, with Maryland among states that allowed for it to be prescribed.
