Carroll County commissioners are set to discuss at their weekly meeting Thursday the framework needed to regulate the county’s recreational cannabis industry.
Dispensaries in the county have been selling cannabis products for medical use only for several years. The Board of Carroll County Commissioners is now left with the task of how to regulate the use of recreational cannabis in the county’s zoning code.
Maryland residents overwhelmingly approved a ballot referendum question to legalize the recreational use of cannabis during the 2022 general election, and state lawmakers established rules for recreational use during this year’s General Assembly session, which ended April 10.
As of July 1, individuals 21 and older can legally use, possess and consume up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis flower, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis, or a total amount of cannabis products that does not exceed 750 mg THC in Maryland. This amount is known as the “personal use amount.”
The cannabis industry is expected to get up and running this summer after state lawmakers announced an agreement Friday and then quickly passed a robust licensing and regulatory plan. The plan must be signed by Gov. Wes Moore before it becomes law.
The major elements of the plan are the same as lawmakers introduced earlier this year. Medical marijuana businesses would begin converting their licenses to new medical and recreational cannabis licenses before July 1. That would be followed by a first round of new licenses for “social equity applicants” — those who have lived in or attended school in an area “disproportionally impacted” by cannabis criminalization — by Jan. 1. There would then be a second round of licenses after May 1, 2024, for any other applicants. Large portions of the revenue from a 9% sales tax on recreational cannabis would go toward communities disproportionally affected by the war on drugs.
Carroll County’s current zoning code does not define or regulate recreational cannabis, as it will be a new use, according to a county briefing document from the Carroll County Department of Planning.
“Specific regulations will have to be developed,” the briefing paper states.
Zoning codes are an important tool for regulating when, where, and how cannabis-related businesses can operate. Commissioners are required to refer the issue to the county Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendations on adding specific regulations for recreational marijuana use to the zoning code.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will then send back recommendations to the commissioners before the code is finalized.
Representatives with the county’s Department of Planning are slated to discuss the issue with commissioners on Thursday. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. and can be viewed online. More information can be found at https://www.carrollcountymd.gov/government/commissioners.
