BLACK CAUCUS GOES AFTER POT LICENSING: The Legislative Black Caucus plans to use any means necessary to stop Maryland’s medical marijuana commission from issuing final licenses until more are awarded to minority-owned businesses, writes Erin Cox of the Sun. “We will not be accepting crumbs,” Del. Cheryl Glenn, chair of the caucus, said Friday at a forum in Annapolis.
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Black lawmakers had pushed for language in the 2014 medical marijuana legalization law requiring regulators to “actively seek to achieve” racial and ethnic diversity in the growing industry. But in a state that is nearly a third black, none of the 15 companies granted preliminary cultivation licenses in August is led by an African American, Fenit Nirappil reports in the Post.
MENTAL HEALTH AID FOR DEFENDANTS: State legislators for three committees will meet this week to seek a solution to a growing problem in Maryland involving criminal defendants needing psychological evaluations and treatment that one judge has warned could result in the release of people charged with murder, Bryan Sears reports in the Daily Record.