If you pay attention to the news, you’ve probably heard a lot about fentanyl. Fentanyl is at the center of the opioid crisis sweeping across the United States. Here in Maryland, the situation is especially concerning. Overdose rates are climbing, and the state has taken aggressive steps to crack down on fentanyl-related crimes. The DEA reports that over 2,000 people died from overdoses in Maryland from July 2023 to June 2024, and more than 1,600 [...]

Maryland drug diversion programs offer alternatives to incarceration for individuals facing criminal charges due to substance use disorders. These programs are designed to provide treatment and support instead of traditional criminal penalties. When are drug diversions available to offenders in Maryland? There are some circumstances under which drug diversion programs may be considered as alternatives to incarceration in Maryland. Here are some considerations that are made: Nature of the offense: Drug diversion programs are typically [...]

With the start of the new school year in September 2023, students, teachers, and parents need to understand how Maryland’s new recreational marijuana law applies. Fundamentally, anyone who attends a school, works in a school, or provides daycare services needs to understand that there are state laws and there are educational regulations. Violations of the laws may result in criminal charges. Violations of the educational regulations may result in disciplinary actions, including suspension, expulsion, termination, [...]

Field sobriety tests (FSTs) have long been utilized by law enforcement to detect alcohol impairment in drivers. However, with the recent legalization of marijuana in Maryland, concerns arise regarding the potential use of similar tests for marijuana impairment on drivers. Given the flaws in the long-used field sobriety tests for alcohol impairment, we should question the efficacy of reapplying this already flawed system to marijuana users. How can we trust in the reliability of a [...]

A drug conviction carries much more than just immediate legal penalties. Beyond things like fines, probation, or prison time, individuals convicted of drug crimes can face what’s called “collateral consequences.” These can have a significant effect on one’s life. Collateral consequences, which can extend long beyond a direct sentence, can affect various aspects of your personal, professional, and social life. Today we want to discuss the collateral consequences of a drug conviction and how they [...]

Possession of small amounts of marijuana used to be illegal in Maryland. The good news is that voters in the November 2022 election decided that enough was enough, approving a ballot question to make it legal for adults 21 and over to possess, smoke, and grow recreational marijuana. The ballot initiative applies to the possession of up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana. According to the Washington Post: Possession of fewer than 1.5 ounces of marijuana [...]

Different states have different rules for use and possession of medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. The differences can make it hard to understand your rights if you travel to different states for work, for pleasure, or to visit friends and family. Do you need to take your medical marijuana card with you? Does it matter whether your marijuana is an edible product or a cigarette that you smoke? Are you okay if you fly from [...]

Prescription drugs are intended for use by which only the person they are prescribed. However, sometimes that person shares their medication with another. This act brings the question of whether a person can go to prison for sharing prescription drugs. Many Maryland residents are under the impression that if they obtain medications from a relative, it is not illegal. After all, you are not getting illicit drugs from the shady drug dealer on the corner. [...]

The pandemic has been difficult for all of us. A new and contagious virus combined with the solitude of staying at home to avoid catching it makes our lives different and more complicated than they have been in the past. It makes sense that many of us are seeking outlets to escape the situations that we find ourselves in. As difficult as the average person has had it, it is without question that medical personnel [...]

In order to be subjected to a search, police need probable cause; otherwise, it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. For years, law enforcement officers in Maryland have used the odor of marijuana as their probable cause to search someone. The Maryland Court of Appeals issued another ruling recently that puts an end to this practice. Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera authored the unanimous ruling, which said in part: In order to lawfully arrest [...]

In 2015, a young woman named Jamie Maynard gave a small amount of heroin to an acquaintance, Courtney Penix, who later overdosed and died. Maynard was not a dealer or trafficker, but an addict trying to help out another addict. As authorities investigated, Maynard found herself swept up in the prosecution’s zeal to punish everyone and anyone connected to Penix’s death, and was eventually charged with involuntary manslaughter and drug trafficking. She was sentenced to [...]

The phrase “chain of custody” commonly refers to the proper preservation of tangible evidence that is used in trial. The burden is placed on the prosecution to show, every step of the way, that the evidence that is seized or taken is properly preserved. The prosecution needs to show that nobody was able to tamper with the evidence in any way. Some evidence must be preserved in refrigerator units or chemically preserved. Other types of [...]

The Baltimore Sun reported that a Maryland woman was charged with trying to smuggle hundreds of strips of a drug that treats opioid addiction into the Eastern Correctional Institution on the Eastern Shore. The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services says they saw her “toss two blue packages containing the drugs [buprenorphine] over the visiting room wall in the western compound.” After posting $20,000 bond, she was released pending the processing of the criminal [...]

Prescription opioids are powerful pain killers which are used to treat moderate to severe pain and are often prescribed following surgery or injury or for cancer pain according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For the past few years, as pharmaceutical companies have pushed their products on physicians to prescribe these powerful drugs for the treatment of other types of pain, despite the risks for dependence, abuse, and overdose, an epidemic [...]

The Baltimore Sun recently reported that Marilyn Mosby, the city’s state’s attorney, will no longer prosecute people for possessing marijuana, regardless of the amount of or their prior criminal history. Ms. Mosby also is asking the courts to vacate nearly 5,000 convictions for marijuana possession. She said the reason for this move is that she didn’t believe that pursuing convictions for marijuana possession was a way to make the city safer. Her position follows that [...]