Although the street corners of Montgomery County are hardly rife with drug dealers, recreational marijuana use is still prevalent among teens and young adults, and according to a 2005 Monitoring the Future study, cited by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), 44.7 percent of high school seniors have tried marijuana during their lifetime. With the Justice Department’s newest changes to its drug laws, the cause for marijuana’s legalization is gaining traction, even as the state of Maryland lags behind the times in its drug policies.
According to an Oct. 20 Washington Post article, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that federal prosecutors would no longer target medical marijuana patients in lawsuits, instead focusing the government’s efforts on large-scale drug traffickers. However, patients are only protected from legal harassment if they live in one of the 14 states which have established a legal process for obtaining medical marijuana; Maryland is not one of those states.
Unlike other states, Maryland has no legal method for ill patients to purchase medical marijuana. According to Henry Heller, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates who supports changing the medical marijuana law, patients can get a note from their doctor to recommend the use of marijuana, but police can still arrest those patients and charge them with a $100 fine if they are caught possessing marijuana. Because there are no medical marijuana dispensaries in Maryland, patients are forced to find their own marijuana dealer and purchase the drug at their own risk.
According to Heller, the medical marijuana law has been a concern for Maryland legislators, and he tried to create a task force to objectively evaluate the law and determine its fairness. Unfortunately, the bill did not receive a vote from the House Judiciary Committee.
By failing to provide a safe way for patients to access medical marijuana, Maryland is neglecting its sick residents and treating them like criminals. In order to obtain marijuana, patients have to go through the same dangerous process as recreational users, and as a result, they face unjust punishment from police. Patients already have to deal with the burden of buying marijuana from dubious sources, and the legal system further adds to their distress by charging them with misdemeanors. Legislators need to create a new medical marijuana law so that patients can purchase marijuana at dispensaries without having to worry about the safety of the drug or legal persecution.
Critics of a medical marijuana law may argue that recreational drug users would take advantage of marijuana dispensaries by obtaining fake medical marijuana cards. While some degree of misconduct is bound to happen, lawmakers need to consider how greatly legal dispensaries would benefit legitimately ill patients. According to an Oct. 27 Washington Post article, marijuana can relieve chronic pain and nausea while increasing appetite, which can help patients with illnesses like multiple sclerosis or AIDS. It has been scientifically proven that marijuana can improve many symptoms in ill patients.
Although the legalization of marijuana promises to be a significant issue in the near future, medical marijuana remains a more pressing concern. Maryland and other states throughout the country must first reform their medical marijuana laws before legislators can consider fully decriminalizing the drug.
