County Executive Steve Schuh's administration vowed to press forward with a proposal to prohibit medical marijuana facilities in Anne Arundel County despite a letter from the Maryland Attorney General's Office stating that counties cannot ban operations allowed by state law.
Schuh is backing a bill that would prevent individuals from growing, processing or dispensing medical marijuana in all zoning classifications.
Meanwhile, a county councilman who is offering an alternative to Schuh's bill encouraged withdrawal of the administration's measure, saying this would streamline the legislative process.
A Democratic Baltimore County senator who slammed the Republican county executive's plan requested the advice issued Tuesday by the Attorney General's Office.
The nonbinding legal advice signed by Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Rowe, obtained by The Capital Wednesday, says state law allows counties to decide where medical marijuana may be grown, processed and dispensed -- but does not permit local jurisdictions to make it impossible to operate "unless a situation unique to that county makes one or more types of facilities inappropriate.
"This would require a showing that there are factors in that jurisdiction that would differentiate it from the remainder of the state," Rowe wrote.
"As a rule, counties have broad zoning powers," Rowe wrote. "These powers do not, however, necessarily include the authority to zone in such a way that activities that are licensed under state law are effectively barred from the county."
Schuh has said language in the state law is loose and could allow an increase in recreational use of medical marijuana. He also sided with public safety officials who expressed concern over the amount patients will be allowed to obtain over 30 days.
They could get up to one-quarter of a pound, worth about $3,000, perhaps leading to more robberies and other crimes, Schuh has said.
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, the chairman of the state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, requested the attorney general's opinion after learning about Schuh's stance.
Zirkin criticized the potential prohibition on medical marijuana in a guest column in The Capital last week, calling it "both disappointing and baffling."
Schuh's "stance is ludicrous on its face and should not be permitted to stand," Zirkin wrote.
Zirkin said Tuesday he still intends to introduce legislation next year to prevent local officials from making proposals like Schuh's.
The senator said that due to broad bipartisan support for allowing medical use of marijuana by the sick -- which included unanimous approval by Anne Arundel's delegation this year -- he did not think a local official would go as far as Schuh did to keep it out of his county.
"I don't think it crossed people's minds," he said.
When he was a delegate, Schuh voted against proposals to allow medical marijuana and decriminalize marijuana possession.
Owen McEvoy, a Schuh spokesman, said the administration still intends to push the county bill.
"We don't believe that the senator from Baltimore County should be making Anne Arundel County policy," McEvoy said.
Gregory Swain, the senior assistant county attorney who drafted Schuh's bill, said the Attorney General's Office opinion does not reflect the county measure's intentions.
The administration bill does not ban medical marijuana, Swain said, but just prevents those operations from being allowed in all of the county's zoning classifications.
Schuh's proposal, he said, would not prohibit someone with a valid prescription from possessing medical marijuana -- so long as that marijuana came from another county.
State law allows local jurisdictions to regulate medical marijuana through their planning and zoning laws. Applications for medical marijuana growers, processors and dispensary operators are expected to be available this month.
Schuh's proposal was put before the Anne Arundel County Council on Monday, the same night an alternative proposal, sponsored by three council members, was submitted.
Councilmen Chris Trumbauer, D-Annapolis, and Andrew Pruski, D-Gambrills, and Council Chairman Jerry Walker, R-Crofton, are sponsoring a bill that would limit where medical marijuana facilities can go but not prohibit them.
Four votes are needed for a bill to pass the seven-member legislative body.
Under provisions of the bill by the three councilmen, the growing, processing and dispensing of medical marijuana would be barred within 1,000 feet of a public or private elementary, middle or high school.
The bill would also limit dispensaries from operating 2,500 feet within one another.
Similar rules were approved by the Baltimore County Council this month, although the proposed regulations in Anne Arundel would double the distance from schools.
Trumbauer said he used Baltimore County's bill as a starting point, as he wanted an alternative to Schuh's bill that would regulate rather than eliminate medical marijuana operations in Anne Arundel.
All seven council members were either hesitant about Schuh's measure or expressed disapproval of it.
Both bills are scheduled to be heard by the council in Annapolis on Oct. 19.
Trumbauer said he expects amendments that would both loosen and tighten some of the regulations in his bill. He said the administration should streamline the process by withdrawing its bill.
Trumbauer said it's highly unlikely Schuh's bill will pass.
"Everybody knows where he stands on it," Trumbauer said. "Let's concentrate on one vehicle."
(c)2015 The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)
