January 20, 2011 – Former talk show host and local celebrity, Montel Williams, will lend his support to efforts to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland. Williams, who grew up in Baltimore, has become a national advocate for medical marijuana since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than a decade ago.

Williams, who has sought treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, will join the bill’s sponsors – Sen. David R. Brinkley (R-Frederick) and Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) – at a press conference Monday in Annapolis. Williams has spoken out in other states about his use of medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain caused by his illness.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that allow marijuana use for medical purposes. Last year, the Maryland Senate passed legislation with bipartisan support, but the measure stalled in the House in part because of concerns about the political implications in an election year. By Ann Marimow. Source.

April 11, 2010 – (ANNAPOLIS, Md.) – With no discussion or objections, the Maryland Senate voted 35-12 to pass SB 627, a bill that would allow qualified patients to be recommended medical marijuana by their doctor and receive safe access to their medicine through state-licensed distribution centers. The bill now moves to the House. The General Assembly’s session ends Monday night.

“I’m very proud of my Senate colleagues today for voting to provide some of our most vulnerable residents with the compassion and care that they deserve,” said Sen. David Brinkley (R-Frederick), the bill’s sponsor and a two-time cancer survivor. “Anyone who has watched a loved one suffer from a debilitating illness would agree that we should not stand between doctors and patients, or deprive seriously ill people safe access to a legitimate medicine if it can help them cope with their illness.”

“We think this bill offers the most carefully crafted medical marijuana law in the country,” said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Silver Spring), one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “It offers legal protection and safe medical access to patients who are desperately in need and takes every possible measure to prevent abuse. I’m hopeful that our colleagues in the House will give this proposal serious consideration, and make Maryland’s medical marijuana law a national model for how to promote medical privacy, social compassion, and security in administration.”

Fourteen other states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maine, have effective medical marijuana laws. This year, more than a dozen other states, including New York, Illinois, Delaware, South Dakota, Arizona, and Kansas, are considering medical marijuana laws. The District Council of Washington, D.C. is working on a medical marijuana law expected to be implemented by the end of this year.

Under current Maryland law, medical marijuana patients are provided with a limited affirmative defense in court, no protection from arrest, and no safe means of access to their medicine. Patients can still be given a $100 fine that results in a criminal conviction. Source.