Bills were filed this week in the state of Maryland to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older.
The bills would allow these adults to possess, consume, grow and purchase cannabis. Possession would be capped at one ounce for flower and five grams of concentrate, and individuals could grow up to four plants at a time.
It was Del. Eric Luedtke (D) who introduced the House version of the new legalization bill.
House Speaker Michael Busch (D) said last month that legalization, “whether you support it or whether you don’t support it personally, I think that’s the future.”
“I think you’re going to see the country go to legalizing recreational marijuana and, you know, it’ll be much like overturning prohibition,” remarked Busch, said the Associated Press.
Busch has said that he’d want to invest all of the tax revenue from marijuana sales in education.
Senate President Thomas Miller Jr. (D) agreed and said, “I know where people are going to be a generation or two from now.”
Sen. Will Smith Jr. filed the Senate version of the bill and under this measure, marijuana sales would be taxed at six percent, with funds from that revenue going toward substance abuse treatment, impaired driving prevention, education and investments in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the drug war.