State of Maryland Archives: on Drugs

Thomas Perez: Legalization means jobs, revenue; address past injustice

Thomas Perez: Both treatment and prevention to deal with opioid addiction

Ben Jealous: Fully legalize marijuana & collect license fees & taxes

Hogan: Mixed. Signed bill expanding medical marijuana industry. Wait and see before recreational legalization.

Jealous: Yes. Fully legalize marijuana, including diverse communities in licensing. Use tax revenues to pay for universal, full-day, pre-K education.

Larry Hogan: Expand medical marijuana; wait on recreational marijuana

Hogan: Mixed. Signed bill expanding medical marijuana industry. Wait and see before recreational legalization.

Jealous: Yes. Fully legalize marijuana, including diverse communities in licensing. Use tax revenues to pay for universal, full-day, pre-K education.

Ian Schlakman: Marijuana isn't a gateway drug

A: Strongly oppose

Ben Jealous: Recognizes the suffering caused from the opioid epidemic

Richard Madaleno: Allow petitioning for expunging marijuana arrest record

OnTheIssues Q: what are your views on drug issues?
• Voted YES on allowing parents or guardians of minor children to apply on their behalf to outpatient alcohol or drug abuse programs
• Voted YES on allowing persons convicted of possession of marijuana to petition for expungement of record
• Voted YES on no longer requiring ex-offenders to be tested for drugs

Shawn Quinn: Marijuana isn't a gateway drug

A: Strongly oppose

Larry Hogan: Tougher prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers

In December 2017, Governor Hogan proposed a series of crime initiatives to address repeat violent offenders and criminal gang enterprises terrorizing communities across the state. Throughout the legislative session, Governor Hogan worked with legislators from both parties to ensure these critical initiatives were passed.

Signed as part of the crime package was Senate Bill 1137, which expands the existing volume dealer law to include fentanyl and will allow for more effective prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers.

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 35-14-2 on March 22; passed House 135-5-9 on March 31; signed by Gov. Hogan, April 24, 2018

Tony Campbell: States should make their own decisions on marijuana legality

Campbell: I am not in favor of federal legalization of marijuana. However, I think marijuana does not need to be a schedule 1 drug. Our federal system allows for states to decide legality of marijuana within their borders. The Supreme Court has not decided to weigh-in on this issue yet. I am in favor of states making their own decisions at this point.

Kathy Szeliga: Tougher prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers

In December 2017, Governor Hogan proposed a series of crime initiatives to address repeat violent offenders and criminal gang enterprises terrorizing communities across the state. Throughout the legislative session, Governor Hogan worked with legislators from both parties to ensure these critical initiatives were passed.

Signed as part of the crime package was Senate Bill 1137, which expands the existing volume dealer law to include fentanyl and will allow for more effective prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers.

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 35-14-2 on March 22; passed House 135-5-9 on March 31; Del. Kathy Szeliga voted YES; signed by Gov. Hogan, April 24, 2018

Arvin Vohra: Drugs should be as legal as tomatoes

A: Oppose. If elected, I will sponsor legislation to end the war on drugs. I want drugs to be as legal as tomatoes, so that drug businesses can settle disputes by calling their credit card companies, instead of resorting to violence. I want to end all drug related violence; I want there to be no more innocent bystanders. That comes from legalizing all drugs, so that disputes can be handled without violence.

Richard Madaleno: Tougher prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers

In December 2017, Governor Hogan proposed a series of crime initiatives to address repeat violent offenders and criminal gang enterprises terrorizing communities across the state. Throughout the legislative session, Governor Hogan worked with legislators from both parties to ensure these critical initiatives were passed.

Signed as part of the crime package was Senate Bill 1137, which expands the existing volume dealer law to include fentanyl and will allow for more effective prosecution of high-level heroin traffickers.

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 35-14-2 on March 22; Sen. Richard Madaleno voted YES; passed House 135-5-9 on March 31; signed by Gov. Hogan, April 24, 2018

Arvin Vohra: Stop the war on drugs; end black market profits

Richard Madaleno: Opioid epidemic is health issue, not criminal one

Alec Ross: Let's see response to medical marijuana

Richard Madaleno: Co-sponsored marijuana legalization bill

Larry Hogan: Created the Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force

One of my first acts as governor was to create the Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force. We have gone after it from every angle including education, treatment, interdiction, and law enforcement. We have made strides, but this crisis continues to grow out of control all across our country.

We can--and we must--do more to save the lives of Marylanders. We need your help to enact the multi-pronged Heroin Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement Initiative and to pass the Prescriber Limits Act of 2017 and the Distribution of Opioids Resulting in Death Act.

Larry Hogan: New tools to pursue criminal organizations in drug trade

Governor Hogan established the Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force, which issued its final report In December 2015, containing 33 recommendations to address heroin and opioid abuse, including expanding access to treatment and boosting overdose prevention efforts. Funding has been included in the last two budgets to address heroin addiction and treatment, as well as additional measures that are part of the administration's criminal justice reform effort. The governor championed the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and provided state attorneys with new tools to pursue criminal organizations involved in drug trade.

Richard Douglas: Served as counter-narcotics deputy under George W. Bush

Jamie Raskin: Reduce mandatory sentencing for drug offenses

• Repeals the mandatory sentence of at least 10 years imprisonment for first and second time convictions for distributing or dispensing a dangerous controlled substance;
• Requires an individual convicted of drug offenses to be sentenced to at least 2 years imprisonment, and a maximum imprisonment of 20 years or a maximum fine of $100,000, for first or second offenses

Richard Madaleno: Reduce mandatory sentencing for drug offenses

• Repeals the mandatory sentence of at least 10 years imprisonment for first and second time convictions for distributing or dispensing a dangerous controlled substance;
• Requires an individual convicted of drug offenses to be sentenced to at least 2 years imprisonment, and a maximum imprisonment of 20 years or a maximum fine of $100,000, for first or second offenses

Kathy Szeliga: Keep mandatory sentencing for drug offenses

• Repeals the mandatory sentence of at least 10 years imprisonment for first and second time convictions for distributing or dispensing a dangerous controlled substance;
• Requires an individual convicted of drug offenses to be sentenced to at least 2 years imprisonment, and a maximum imprisonment of 20 years or a maximum fine of $100,000, for first or second offenses

Martin O`Malley: Executive Order to address this heroin epidemic

Kathy Szeliga: Voted NO on reducing penalties for possession of marijuana

Highlights:
• Reduces the penalty for a first offense of possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to a fine of $100 from a maximum prison sentence of 90 days, a fine up to $500, or both.
• Classifies the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana as a civil offense punishable by a maximum fine of $250 for a second offense; and a maximum fine of $500 and for a third or subsequent offense.
• Requires an individual less than 21 years of age who violates a provision of this bill or an individual older than 21 who commits a third or subsequent offense to perform the following actions:
• Attend a drug education program;
• Perform an assessment for substance abuse disorder; and
• Enter substance abuse treatment.

Kelly M. Schulz: Voted NO on reducing penalties for possession of marijuana

Bill Passed House (78 - 55); Del. Kelly Schulz voted Nay.

Highlights:
• Reduces the penalty for a first offense of possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to a fine of $100 from a maximum prison sentence of 90 days, a fine up to $500, or both.
• Classifies the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana as a civil offense punishable by a maximum fine of $250 for a second offense; and a maximum fine of Attend a drug education program;
• Perform an assessment for substance abuse disorder; and
• Enter substance abuse treatment.

Jamie Raskin: Voted YES on reducing penalties for possession of marijuana

Highlights:
• Reduces the penalty for a first offense of possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to a fine of $100 from a maximum prison sentence of 90 days, a fine up to $500, or both.
• Classifies the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana as a civil offense punishable by a maximum fine of $250 for a second offense; and a maximum fine of $500 and for a third or subsequent offense.
• Requires an individual less than 21 years of age who violates a provision of this bill or an individual older than 21 who commits a third or subsequent offense to perform the following actions:
• Attend a drug education program;
• Perform an assessment for substance abuse disorder; and
• Enter substance abuse treatment.

Richard Madaleno: Voted YES on reducing penalties for possession of marijuana

Highlights:
• Reduces the penalty for a first offense of possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana to a fine of $100 from a maximum prison sentence of 90 days, a fine up to $500, or both.
• Classifies the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana as a civil offense punishable by a maximum fine of $250 for a second offense; and a maximum fine of $500 and for a third or subsequent offense.
• Requires an individual less than 21 years of age who violates a provision of this bill or an individual older than 21 who commits a third or subsequent offense to perform the following actions:
• Attend a drug education program;
• Perform an assessment for substance abuse disorder; and
• Enter substance abuse treatment.

Martin O`Malley: Baltimore recovered from open-air drug markets

O'Malley told a crowd of close to 1,000 party activists here that the city he sought to lead had succumbed to a "culture of failure," with open-air drug markets, a soaring murder count and citizens "wallowing in a sense that nothing would work."

"Like in Baltimore in 1999, we as Americans are going through a cynical time of disbelief, a time with more excuses and ideology than cooperation or action," O'Malley said in his keynote address at the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. "We seem to have lost the shared conviction we once had that we actually have the ability to make things better together. There is a big difference between the America we carry in our hearts, and the America we see in our headlines."

Michael Steele: More enforcement against Drug Trafficking

End Drug Trafficking:
• Increase and expand the High Intensity Drug Trafficking grant the Baltimore-Washington area receives, so police have the resources they need to target drug dealers and gang members who traffic narcotics.
• Increase funding for programs that rehabilitate drug addicts and get them the help they need to return to being productive members of society.