Adult-Use Cannabis Implementation Timeline

​​​​​​​​​​On November 8, 2022, Maryland voters passed a ballot referendum legalizing cannabis use for individuals 21+ on/after July 1, 2023. Below is a timeline of key dates, reports, and studies submitted on the path to legalization.

2024

• April 18 - MCA, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health, launched a public health and safety campaign related to cannabis use in Maryland under the umbrella of BeCannabisSmart. The first ads focus on the hazards of consuming cannabis while, or before, driving. Future BeCannabisSmart media includes keeping indoor and outdoor public spaces smoke-free, reducing accidental consumption by children (and pets), and prevention messages aimed at high risk populations including youth and pregnant and breastfeeding individuals.
  

• March 14 - The Maryland Cannabis Administration held a lottery for 174 social equity business licenses across micro and standard grower, processor and dispensary categories. The lottery is the first application round in the nation designated exclusively for social equity applicants across all license types and categories.
  

• March 13 - The Maryland Cannabis Administration announced the opening of its cannabis reference laboratory. The laboratory will be responsible for auditing the results from independent testing laboratories to ensure accuracy, assisting with illicit product investigations, and determining standardized testing methods for the industry. Maryland joins only a handful of other states with a cannabis reference laboratory, and it is the first reference laboratory in the country dedicated exclusively to cannabis oversight and managed by a state cannabis regulatory agency.
  

• March 7 - The Maryland Cannabis Administration announced the lottery drawings for social equity applicants, to select up to 179 applicants across micro and standard grower, processor and dispensary categories. Over 1,500 applications were entered into the lottery pools and eligible for selection.
  

2023

• December 19 - MCA issued letters of conditional awards to four majority-minority held firms and applicants, including individuals who were class members of the Pigford v. Glickman litigation.

• December 15 - MCA launched its Medical and Adult-Use Data Dashboard, providing public access to key program and industry metrics, including sales (by revenue and volume), median consumer price per gram, the number of plants harvested and total weight sold, the number of active licensees along with an interactive map of dispensary locations, and patient-related data including the number of certified patients, caregivers, and certifying providers. The dashboard is updated monthly.

• September 8 - The Maryland Cannabis Administration announced the opening of the first application round exclusively for social equity applicants for cannabis business licenses. The application round opened on November 13 and closed on December 12. MCA received over 1,700 applications for cannabis business licenses.

• July 17 - Governor Wes Moore appointed an Executive Director to the Office of Social Equity. The Office of Social Equity, an independent agency established by the Cannabis Reform Act of 2023, is charged with providing resources and support for historically disadvantaged individuals and businesses seeking to enter the adult-use cannabis market.

• July 1 - Purchase and possession of cannabis for personal adult-use becomes legal in Maryland for adults 21+. Existing medical dispensaries permitted to pay a conversion fee and sell both adult-use and medical cannabis. Outreach begins for next round of licensing- first-in-the-nation to focus exclusively on social equity applicants.

• ​​May 3 - Governor Wes Moore signed the Cannabis Reform Act​ into law, creating a framework for adult-use cannabis in Maryland. The Maryland Cannabis Administration, the successor agency ​to the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, was also established on this date. ​

• ​April 8 - The Maryland General Assembly passed the Cannabis Reform Act ( HB556/SB516​ ) which will become effective as soon as signed by Governor Moore. The legislation allows for cannabis sales to adults 21+ from licensed dispensaries and establishes the legal framework for adult-use cannabis sales beginning July 1, 2023, including conversion of existing medical cannabis business licensees to both medical and adult-use cannabis. A new Maryland Cannabis Administration will oversee both the medical and adult-use programs.​​

• ​​​​​​​March 1 - MMCC submitted the statutorily-required Maryland Cannabis Use Baseline Study​ to the Maryland General Assembly. This report provided a “first look” at cannabis use in Maryland prior to legalization. As directed in statute, data was collected from multiple state agencies and included large population-based surveys, surveys of special populations (e.g., medical cannabis patients), as well as program-level data (e.g., treatment services data), poison center and hospital-based data.

• ​March 1 - MMCC released the 2022 Maryland Medical Cannabis Patient Survey (MMCPS-22) Report, which detailed the methods and results of the first cycle of a two-phase study. The study was designed to examine patterns of use, perceptions of risk and benefit, and occurrence of high-risk behaviors related to cannabis use in the medical cannabis patient population. The intent of the study was to obtain data on medical cannabis use to help inform future programmatic and policy efforts and ensure the safe use of cannabis in Maryland. In total, this survey analyzed data from over 13,000 medical cannabis patients in Maryland and was the largest of its kind to-date. The second wave of the survey (MMCPS- 23), to assess ongoing and changing patient perceptions and behaviors, is scheduled to be implemented in fall 2023.