Annapolis, MD: Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has signed legislation into law permitting qualified patients to access cannabis-infused edible products from state-licensed facilities.
House Bill 17 permits dispensaries for the first time to sell "edible cannabis products." Separate provisions in the law permit academic institutions and research facilities seeking to conduct research on the "medical use, properties, or composition of cannabis" to obtain source materials from a state-licensed cannabis dispensary.
Federal regulations currently provide only a single source of cannabis for clinical research purposes, the University of Mississippi. However, clinicians wishing to conduct FDA-approved clinical trials on cannabis have long complained that federally-provided samples are of inferior quality. Recently published studies have reported samples contain far lower levels of both THC and CBD than do commercially available cannabis, and that federally grown cannabis strains are genetically similar to traditional hemp plants.
For more information, contact Carly Wolf, NORML State Policies Coordinator, at (202) 483-5500.