As lawmakers seek to protect dispensaries, others clamp down
Cannabis dispensaries cannot be subject to stricter zoning rules than those for alcohol stores under legislation awaiting the signature of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D).
Lawmakers crafted the measure to protect a nascent recreational industry, developing the proposal as Prince George’s County leaders attempted to limit where new dispensaries may open. On Tuesday, the County Council voted 8-0 to adopt rules some cannabis advocates have described as restrictive, despite the General Assembly’s actions.
Council members have said they are representing the will of constituents in the affluent, majority-Black suburb of D.C. by seeking to keep dispensaries out of highly visible retail corridors. The House bill’s sponsor, Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), said in an interview Tuesday that efforts to restrict and not support the businesses are “asinine.”
“Counties don’t seem to understand that these are multimillion-dollar investments,” Wilson said. “These businesses need to be allowed to flourish.”
The county’s bill will be effectively moot if Moore signs the state legislation, which a spokesman said he is reviewing.
Since recreational marijuana became legal in July, some Prince George’s officials have heaved about the prospect of dispensaries sprouting up around the county, especially in areas where smoke and liquor shops are more plentiful than grocery stores and playgrounds.
Nearly 3 in 5 county voters oppose allowing a marijuana dispensary in their community, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted last month. Statewide, half of voters are opposed. That opposition comes despite 72 percent of voters in Prince George’s backing a 2022 referendum that legalized the recreational use of cannabis in Maryland, exceeding the 67 percent support statewide.
Tuesday’s proposal before the county council represented a compromise between members with different visions for the role of Prince George’s in encouraging the industry. The county first attempted to banish dispensaries to industrial zones, which failed last year. This year, the debate resurfaced among council members, residents and cannabis industry proponents. On Tuesday, the council voted to allow new dispensaries to be in industrial and some commercial areas.
District 2 council member Wanika Fisher (D), a lawyer and former state delegate, warned her colleagues that Wilson’s bill had steam and that the county could be creating an undue burden on incoming dispensaries.
Under the county’s bill, dispensaries must be at least 2,000 feet from any liquor store and at least 1,000 feet from another cannabis dispensary or micro dispensary.
Wilson’s bill would prohibit jurisdictions from adopting ordinance requirements that are more restrictive than those for stores that sell alcohol. The purpose, he said, is to have fair zoning even as there are already rules about what types of businesses are prevented from being around schools, playgrounds and places of worship.
The passage of Wilson’s bill is welcome news for Kal Shah, founder and chief executive of Waave Dispensary in Greenbelt. Cannabis is regulated by the same body that oversees alcohol and tobacco (the Alcohol, Tobacco and Cannabis Commission), so cannabis businesses should have the same rules, Shah said.
“I have a location in Greenbelt. It’s in an office park,” he said. “I would love to open up or move this location down the road on Greenbelt Road next to the Safeway, but I’m not able to do that because of the current zoning regulations. … A liquor store could open up tomorrow if they wanted to, or a smoke shop.”
Other counties across the state have also tried to impose restrictions that would be onerous to fledgling cannabis businesses, Shah said, so Wilson’s bill was needed.
Incoming dispensaries snaking their way throughout counties and popping up like weeds just isn’t possible, Wilson said. The process of acquiring a license is highly regulated. The state awarded 174 social equity licenses recently through a lottery process, with a set number of slots per locality.
The licenses granted through the state’s social equity program, which aims to improve representation in the industry, will see Prince George’s and its neighboring county, Montgomery, gain up to nine more dispensaries. Baltimore City is slated to get 11.
But District 7 council member Krystal Oriadha (D), a vocal proponent for regulating locations, said the overwhelming support that cannabis legalization received in Prince George’s comes with caveats.
“Saying that we want legalization does not mean that no one cares what it looks like in their community,” she said.
The notion that a community disproportionately affected by criminalization should welcome the industry with open arms does not sit well with her, she has said. The county is home to 18 Zip codes where cannabis charges exceeded 150 percent of the state average between 2013 and 2022.
Wilson said that shifting underrepresented groups from the penal system to the cannabis sector while eliminating the illicit trade market is a net positive. It will take about 18 months before lottery winners are fully operational, he said, anticipating that future conversations will focus on their success.
“Hopefully, [by then] we will not be talking about counties not understanding the law, stopping these legal businesses that their constituents voted on from being successful in their counties,” he said.