“You just have to understand your why,” said LaWann Stribling, the founder of Stribble District, LLC, selling baked goods and herbal products at the July 2 Greenbelt Farmers Market. Cannabis use, approached with that knowledge, has broad potential for healing, according to Stribling, 46, of Greenbelt. “That’s the most important part is knowing why you have this need or what is it that you’re trying to address,” she said.
Since July 1, the Cannabis Reform Act has allowed adults 21 and over to purchase and possess limited amounts of cannabis.
The launch of Maryland’s regulatory framework for the cannabis industry has led cannabis users, business owners and law enforcement officers in and around Greenbelt to grapple with who can sell it, how to differentiate its medical and recreational uses and how to ensure its safe consumption.
The New Law
The new law permits adults to possess 1.5 ounces of dried flower, including joints and pre-rolls, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis, as in vape products, up to two cannabis plants and edible cannabis products containing no more than 750 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in the plant.
The odor of marijuana, in itself, no longer constitutes probable cause for police officers to stop or search a person or vehicle.
It is still illegal to consume cannabis in public or drive while smoking or impaired by cannabis.
“What I tell people is, think of it like alcohol, not tobacco,” said Greenbelt Police Department Deputy Chief Tim White.
The new law required all previously licensed medical cannabis dispensaries to convert to dual medical and recreational licenses by July or risk suspension of their licenses.
Kurt Lane, 42, of Beltsville, said that Waave Cannabis Dispensary in Greenbelt, where he is general manager, netted triple its usual sales on July 1 after converting to a dual license, and that business has since been increasing.
New Licenses
The first round of state licenses for new growers, processors and dispensaries in the fall will be open only to social equity applicants from communities most hurt by cannabis prohibition.
Stribling said Maryland’s criteria for social equity applications exclude the most vulnerable. To qualify as a social equity applicant, a business must be 65 percent owned and controlled by someone who lived in a disproportionately impacted area for five of the past 10 years, attended a public school in such an area for at least five years or attended a college or university where at least 40 percent of attendees are eligible for a Pell Grant.
Stribling currently sells baked goods and hemp products, but she wants to apply for a micro license to expand her business. Stribling herself does not qualify as a social equity applicant because, despite being a woman of color who experienced homelessness and became a teen parent, she didn’t attend a public school for five years. However, her husband and business partner does qualify.
Users’ Concerns
The new law has inspired hopes as well as fears.
Lane said Waave staff are helping patients and customers fight fear and stigma surrounding cannabis. “You’ll see a lot of recreational or adult-use customers come in, and they’re very apprehensive because they’re afraid of maybe law enforcement or they’re afraid of what happens if our database gets sent to federal, which it doesn’t,” Lane said. “It’s just state, and we don’t send stuff like that out to people.”
Tyronda Cole, 50, of Temple Hills, worries that products she relies on to manage chronic pain from multiple sclerosis, nerve damage, carpal tunnel syndrome and other conditions will become unavailable or unaffordable now that recreational users are buying some of the same products.
“I would think if you’re gonna legalize it, you ain’t thinking about the people with the medical issues,” Cole said. “Because now it seems like it’s gonna be a demand. So your demand, that’s gonna make your products smaller. Is it gonna make it more? Is it gonna be better, or is it gonna be worse? Are we gonna get the same thing?”
Medical and Recreational
The new law reserves some products, such as higher-dose gummies, for medical cardholders. Waave has installed kiosks and opened additional registers to address recreational demand, reserving some registers for medical cardholders only.
Still, Lane said that there is overlap between medical and recreational cannabis users, with some customers buying cannabis products to address health problems without medical cards.
“That’s been our biggest challenge from the back end. Making sure that there’s nothing available for rec that can only be available for med,” Lane said.
“But it’s also a good upsale tool. Sometimes we get people come in that say, ‘I’ve seen this on the menu, I’ve seen that on the menu, but I can’t get it once I come in.’ We just talk about the advantages of having a card versus not having one.”
Aaliyah Matin, 24, of Brentwood, a policy student and Waave employee, said that the recreational and medicinal properties of cannabis were part of what drew her to cannabis and working in the industry.
“It expands your perspective…because it’s not only mind-altering. It also heals your body at the same time,” Matin said.
Matin uses cannabis to manage ADHD and sciatic nerve pain, but also recreationally.
“It helps slow down my mind,” she said. She said it’s also brought her a lot of friends.
Cole thinks recreational and medical sales should be separate – ideally with medical users obtaining their cannabis from a pharmacy for a co-pay.
For Matin, legalization may raise labor issues. “It’s like double the work doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be double the money,” said Matin.
Policing
Legalization also raises questions for policing, according to White.
White said the majority of firearms confiscated during traffic stops in Prince George’s County resulted from vehicle searches based on the smell of cannabis. He predicts that police will recover fewer firearms due to the new law.
Police are still determining how to gauge whether someone has consumed enough cannabis for their driving to be impaired, since the field sobriety test that officers administer roadside is geared to alcohol.
“On the roadside or back at the police station, as of right now, we do not have any ability to do a test for impairment by cannabis like we do for alcoholic beverages,” White said.
Education
Stribling emphasized the importance of education about healthy cannabis use. It’s not just about getting high, she said.
“I just want to be in this space so I can speak loudly about these issues. Because that’s why we’re drawn to that, because we’re still dealing with trauma. Especially in my community.”