By Tatyanna Hunter
Frederick delegates recently voted on two important matters relating to marijuana.
The two important matters are medical marijuana and decriminalization of marijuana. For the legalization of medical marijuana, the House had 126 people voting yea, 10 who voted nay, two who did not vote, and three absent from voting.
For the legalization of medical marijuana, the Senate had 44 people voting yea, two who voted nay, and one who did not vote. For the decriminalization of marijuana, the House had 78 people who voted yea, 55 who voted nay, and eight who were absent.
For the decriminalization of marijuana, the Senate had 34 people who voted yea, eight who voted nay, and five who did not vote.
Delegate Clagett voted for decriminalization and he voted for medical marijuana. Delegate Schultz voted for medical marijuana and against decriminalization.
Delegate Hough voted against decriminalization and against medical marijuana. Delegate Brinkely voted for decriminalization and for medical marijuana.
Delegate Hogan voted for medical marijuana and against decriminalization. Delegate Afzali voted against the decriminalization of marijuana and for medical marijuana.
Afzali supports medical marijuana because it could only be distributed from research places and it was only about five places that distributed it. She also liked the idea of medical marijuana because it had very strictly boundaries relating to the use of it.
Afzali had very strong opinions about the decriminalization of medical marijuana.
“It was a terrible bill. The bill first of all decriminalized 10 grams of pot. 10 grams of pot is 20 – 25 joints and that is not recreational use that is for selling purposes,” Afzali said.
She also did not like the bill because it was rushed through the General Assembly.
Afzali said, “If someone is caught with that amount in the school zone, it is legal, but with cigarettes it is illegal.”
- Afzali
Now there is the issue of having drug-free schools. Schools can’t be drug free if students are allowed to carry around 10 grams of pot.
Afzali believes that this bill “gives the green light to young people to start smoking pot. It is a gateway drug to worse things.”
She also said that most families have had someone who was affected by marijuana and that’s not good.
Senator Young voted for the decriminalization of marijuana. He also voted for the use of medical marijuana.
He wanted marijuana decriminalized because “too many people are in jail for having small amounts of marijuana. Now those people have a criminal record because of that.”
In relation to medical marijuana, he feels that it would be useful and helpful if used correctly.
Delegate Elliot voted against the decriminalization of marijuana and he voted for medical marijuana.
Elliot said that medical marijuana bills came through the committee and delegation numerous times in the past.
Elliot said, “We have seen some rather compelling testimonies of people using it [medical marijuana].
The testimonies that he heard over the years about how medical marijuana has helped people and changed their lives really swayed his opinion on it.
“There was a bill that permitted people to use medical marijuana and if they were caught, they would be fined no more than $100. That was a terrible bill,” Elliot said.
In relation to the new medical marijuana bill, Elliot said, “This way, we will know the potency of the drug and all the grower will be controlled.”
He said, “I felt that the controls were there and used mainly to help people with issues such as seizures.”
Elliot said that he has heard of different side effects of medical marijuana, such as people starting to lose their memory over time.
There is also an issue with police smelling the drug. If a person gets pulled over and he or she smells like marijuana, but do not have more than 10 grams on them, then the police can’t arrest that person.
Also, just because a person smells like marijuana, the law says that the police do not have the right to search the person for other drugs now. Drug tests may have to be changed because of decriminalization of marijuana.
Numerous Frederick officials, outside of the delegation, have mixed reactions to the marijuana decriminalization bill.