Maryland voters are set to have the ultimate say on whether or not the state should legalize recreational cannabis use for adults.
Lawmakers there earlier this month passed “a pair of bills setting a November referendum on whether the state should legalize the possession, personal use, and home cultivation of small amounts of marijuana,” the website DCist reported.
The proposal before Maryland voters is one that a growing number of states have tackled over the last decade. It would allow adults aged 21 and older “to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis, with anything between 1.5 and 2.5 ounces subject to a civil fine of $250 and anything above 2.5 ounces subject to a charge of possession with an intent to distribute,” according to DCist.
And it would establish a social justice framework for those previously convicted of pot-related offenses “to seek an expungement of their records and petition for immediate release if they are incarcerated,” the website said.
The bill would not, however, establish a regulatory system for retail sales of recreational pot.
The legislation cleared another major hurdle last week when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, opted not to sign the bills.
That means that should voters approve the referendum in November, the new law will take effect without the governor’s signature.
Hogan has been notably cagey on the issue of cannabis legalization. As the Washington Post reported earlier this month, “Hogan has never taken a public position” on the matter of recreational pot, and he has not “said how he would vote on November’s referendum that would legalize cannabis.”
Per the Baltimore Sun, Hogan has “previously said