Drug Policy Watch · State Brief 2026

Maryland

Snapshot (structured)

Adult-use cannabis: Legal. Legalized by voters via Question 4 in November 2022, with legal sales beginning July 1, 2023. MPP
Medical cannabis: Legal and operational since 2017, regulated by the Maryland Cannabis Administration. MCA FAQ
Home grow: Allowed. Up to 2 plants per adult, 4 plants per household maximum, out of public view. Adults may also make their own edibles and concentrates for personal use (no volatile solvents), per 2025 legislation. Triangle Hemp, Marijuana Moment
Intoxicating hemp / hemp THC: Heavily restricted. Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids may only be sold inside the licensed cannabis system; products outside it are capped at 0.5 mg THC per serving and 2.5 mg per package, with restrictions upheld by the Appellate Court of Maryland in September 2025. cannabisregulations.ai
Psychedelics: Not legal. A state task force has recommended decriminalization and therapeutic access for psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline, but no reform has passed. Psilocybin remains Schedule I. WYPR
Broad decriminalization: No broad drug decriminalization. Cannabis is legal for adults; other controlled substances remain criminalized.
Harm reduction: Robust. Authorized syringe services programs, broad naloxone access, and legal fentanyl and xylazine test strip distribution. Maryland Office of Overdose Response
Governor (party): Wes Moore (Democrat). Governor's Office
Legislature control: Democratic supermajority in both chambers. Senate roughly 34-13, House roughly 102-39. Ballotpedia
Citizen ballot initiatives allowed: No. Maryland has a veto referendum but no citizen initiative power. Ballotpedia
Enclosure pressure score: 3/5

Cannabis

Adult-use cannabis became legal through 2022 ballot Question 4, with retail sales launching July 1, 2023. MPP Medical cannabis has been operational since 2017 and continues under the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA). Adults 21 and over may possess personal-use amounts and grow up to 2 plants each, with a 4-plant household cap; plants must be out of public view. Triangle Hemp

Market structure: The MCA, housed within the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission, runs a regulated, capped, license-limited market with a strong social-equity orientation. Maryland was the first state to run an initial adult-use licensing round open exclusively to qualifying social equity applicants. In March 2024 the MCA conducted a lottery awarding 174 social equity licenses across grower, processor, and dispensary categories, drawn from roughly 1,708 applications. Ganjapreneur Taxes: the adult-use cannabis tax rose from 9 percent to 12 percent effective July 1, 2025, enacted through the FY2026 budget bill (HB 352). NORML, Cannabis Business Times Maryland reported roughly 1.45 billion dollars in 2025 retail sales across about 118 dispensaries, with first-quarter 2026 cannabis tax revenue exceeding 26 million dollars. Fox Baltimore, cannabispromotions.com

Key 2025 to 2026 actions: In 2025 the legislature and Governor Moore enacted a cannabis package legalizing homemade edibles and concentrates (no volatile solvents), clarifying on-site consumption lounge and cannabis-event rules, setting up a second licensing lottery round, allowing owners to sell businesses to employees ahead of the standard five-year hold, and automatically shielding pardoned low-level cannabis conviction records. Marijuana Moment Note: some secondary sources date parts of this package to April 2025 and others reference April 2026 signings; the substantive provisions above are confirmed, while exact 2026 versus 2025 attribution for individual measures is partly unconfirmed.

Hemp

Maryland is one of the more restrictive states on intoxicating hemp. State law channels intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids (including Delta-8, Delta-10, HHC, THCA, and synthetic THC) into the licensed cannabis system. Products sold outside licensed dispensaries are capped at 0.5 mg THC per serving and 2.5 mg per package, with an age-21 minimum and cannabis-equivalent packaging and labeling rules. cannabisregulations.ai, chow420 In September 2025 the Appellate Court of Maryland, in Moore v. Maryland Hemp Coalition, lifted injunctions and made the restrictions fully enforceable. cannabisregulations.ai

Federal exposure: The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2026 (P.L. 119-37), signed November 12, 2025, narrows the federal hemp definition to a total-THC standard and caps finished consumable hemp at 0.4 mg total THC per container, taking effect November 12, 2026, and excluding synthesized cannabinoids. Arnold & Porter, Vicente LLP Because Maryland already confines intoxicating hemp to its licensed system, the November 12, 2026 federal change reinforces rather than upends Maryland's posture; the practical disruption to Maryland's open hemp retail channel is smaller than in permissive states. As of mid-2026 no federal delay legislation had cleared either chamber. The Haze Connect

Psychedelics

Psychedelics remain illegal in Maryland; psilocybin is Schedule I under state and federal law. The state created the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances, which in late 2025 issued recommendations to decriminalize psilocybin (beginning with expungement) and to build a regulated therapeutic-access framework, and recommended legalizing psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline. WYPR, Ganjapreneur

2026 bills: Companion bills introduced for the 2026 session, sponsored by Sen. Brian Feldman (D) and Del. Pam Guzzone (D), would extend the task force through 2027 to continue developing reform recommendations. The extension bill (SB 336 / HB 427) was signed by Governor Moore on April 28, 2026, continuing the task force through 2027, with a report due October 31, 2026. Marijuana Moment, Marijuana Moment A separate bill described in reporting would create a psychedelics task force to recommend online sales and delivery systems for psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline. Marijuana Moment

Broader drug policy

Decriminalization: Maryland has legalized adult-use cannabis but has not broadly decriminalized other controlled substances. Harm reduction: Maryland operates authorized syringe services programs statewide, broad naloxone distribution, and legal fentanyl and xylazine test strip distribution through local Overdose Response Programs and the state Office of Overdose Response. Maryland Office of Overdose Response, Maryland DOH SSP list Overdose and treatment policy: Maryland reported opioid deaths at a 10-year low in 2026, down about 57 percent from the pandemic peak, attributed to expanded test strips, naloxone, treatment access, and Opioid Restitution Fund spending. Maryland Matters

Sentencing and expungement: 2025 legislation expanded automatic shielding of pardoned low-level cannabis convictions and broadened expungement eligibility. Separately, possession, cultivation, or distribution of cannabis over 50 pounds was reclassified from a felony with a mandatory five-year minimum to a misdemeanor carrying up to 10 years and/or a 50,000 dollar fine. Marijuana Moment

Political landscape

Governor: Wes Moore (Democrat). Governor's Office Party control: Democrats hold a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers, roughly 34-13 in the Senate and 102-39 in the House, alongside the governorship, a Democratic trifecta. Ballotpedia Reform champions: Sen. Brian Feldman (D) and Del. Pam Guzzone (D) are leading psychedelics task-force legislation. Marijuana Moment Named opponents and specific committee chairs driving or blocking 2026 drug-policy bills are unconfirmed in the sources reviewed; cannabis tax and budget decisions were negotiated among Governor Moore and legislative leaders. Cannabis Business Times

Ballot initiatives

Maryland does not allow citizen-initiated ballot measures. Article XVI of the Maryland Constitution provides only a veto referendum (the power to repeal an enacted law), not the power of initiative; Maryland is one of a small number of states with referendum but no initiative. Ballotpedia Adult-use cannabis reached the 2022 ballot as Question 4 because the legislature referred it, not via citizen petition. 2022 Maryland Question 4 No citizen-initiated cannabis, psychedelic, or drug-policy measure is possible or pending for 2026; reform must move through the General Assembly.

Equity and expungement

Maryland built strong social-equity provisions into its adult-use framework, reserving early licensing rounds for qualifying social equity applicants and running the March 2024 lottery for 174 such licenses. Ganjapreneur Social equity eligibility is administered through the state, with criteria tied to residence in disproportionately impacted areas and related factors. Maryland Office of Social Equity On records, 2025 legislation requires automatic shielding of pardoned low-level cannabis convictions and broadens expungement eligibility, aimed at improving access to housing, employment, and the cannabis market. Marijuana Moment Critics note licensing lotteries and capital requirements can still exclude under-resourced equity applicants, and several licenses have faced litigation and post-lottery ownership disputes. Outlaw Report

Market and barriers

Tax: 12 percent state cannabis sales tax on adult use (up from 9 percent on July 1, 2025), with localities able to add their own cannabis business taxes; this is double the 6 percent general sales rate. NORML, cannabispromotions.com Market scale: roughly 1.45 billion dollars in 2025 retail sales, about 118 dispensaries, roughly 15,200 cannabis jobs, and about 131 million dollars in 2025 state cannabis tax revenue. cannabispromotions.com Licenses are capped and awarded through scored and lottery rounds; the first social equity round drew about 1,708 applications for 174 awards, indicating significant excess demand. Ganjapreneur Specific current license fees, capital, and residency thresholds were not fully captured in the sources reviewed and are partly unconfirmed; see the Maryland Office of Social Equity licensing page.

Enclosure read

Maryland sits mid-spectrum. The state deliberately tilted early licensing toward social equity applicants and protects home grow and now home edible/concentrate production for the little guy, which pushes against pure consolidation. At the same time, a capped license market, a rising 12 percent tax, scored and lottery gatekeeping with heavy oversubscription, and the channeling of all intoxicating hemp into the licensed cannabis system fence out independent hemp retailers and most would-be entrants. The federal November 12, 2026 hemp change further narrows the open hemp lane. No citizen initiative exists, so reform is gated entirely through the legislature, limiting bottom-up pressure. Net: a partly fenced market with real equity and home-grow carve-outs but meaningful structural barriers and a closed hemp channel. Enclosure pressure score: 3/5.

What to watch next

November 12, 2026: federal hemp redefinition takes effect, tightening total-THC limits and reinforcing Maryland's restrictive hemp posture. The Haze Connect
The psychedelics task-force extension (SB 336 / HB 427) was signed April 28, 2026, continuing the task force through 2027 with a report due October 31, 2026; watch for its follow-on reform recommendations. Marijuana Moment
Rollout of the second cannabis licensing lottery round authorized in 2025. Marijuana Moment
The 2026 General Assembly convened at noon Wednesday, January 14, 2026, and adjourned (sine die) at midnight Monday, April 13, 2026 (90-day session); the next regular session is expected to convene in January 2027. Maryland General Assembly 2026 Session

Regulators

Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA), within the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission: medical and adult-use cannabis licensing and regulation, including intoxicating hemp products inside the licensed system. MCA
Maryland Office of Social Equity: social equity certification and licensing eligibility. OSE
Comptroller of Maryland: cannabis tax collection and remittance. Comptroller
Maryland Department of Health, Office of Overdose Response: harm reduction, syringe services, naloxone, and test strip programs. Office of Overdose Response

Federal exposure (2026)

Maryland's reform is built on a Schedule I substance, so every federal lever below bites the state market even though Maryland law treats adult-use cannabis as legal.

Rescheduling and 280E: Cannabis remains Schedule I by default. The DOJ/DEA order signed April 22, 2026 and effective April 28, 2026 (91 FR 22714) moved only FDA-approved cannabis drugs and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III; adult-use (recreational) cannabis stays Schedule I. The split matters directly for Maryland because the state runs both an adult-use and a medical program under the MCA. Maryland's medical operators stand to gain relief from Internal Revenue Code Section 280E, which currently bars Schedule I and II sellers from deducting ordinary business expenses; for the medical category, that punitive tax treatment ends, improving margins. Maryland's adult-use operators, which generate the bulk of the roughly 1.45 billion dollars in 2025 retail sales, get no 280E relief and remain fully exposed. The broader DEA rescheduling hearing opened June 29, 2026 and may slip to 2027; even if it advances, Schedule III does not legalize cannabis, does not authorize interstate commerce, and does not cover state-licensed recreational businesses, so Maryland's adult-use market stays federally illegal and walled inside state lines. The practical near-term effect in Maryland is a two-tier federal tax posture: relief for the smaller medical channel, status quo squeeze for the dominant adult-use channel, and a structural incentive to route product and entity structures through the medical side.

The November 12, 2026 hemp cliff: FY2026 agriculture appropriations (Sec. 781, championed by Rep. Andy Harris, R-MD) narrowed the federal hemp definition to a total-THC standard of about 0.4 mg THC per container, recriminalizing an estimated 90 to 95 percent of intoxicating hemp products effective November 12, 2026. The proposed H.R.7010 delay was not enacted, and the 2026 Farm Bill (H.R.7567) keeps the ban. For most states this is a cliff that wipes out an open, unlicensed hemp retail channel. Maryland is unusual: after the September 2025 Appellate Court of Maryland ruling in Moore v. Maryland Hemp Coalition, the state had already confined intoxicating hemp to its licensed cannabis system and capped out-of-system products at 0.5 mg THC per serving and 2.5 mg per package. So the federal ban largely aligns with, and reinforces, what Maryland already did; the practical effect is incremental rather than catastrophic, mainly closing off any residual gray-market or interstate hemp-THC supply rather than dismantling a thriving open channel. The irony is sharp: Rep. Andy Harris, the federal hemp-ban champion, represents Maryland (First District), so the state's congressional delegation produced the national rule that happens to mirror Maryland's own restrictive posture. Arnold & Porter, The Haze Connect

Banking: SAFER Banking has stalled in the Republican Congress. Maryland's cannabis businesses, including its 174 social equity licensees, remain largely cut off from mainstream banking, card payment rails, and conventional lending, because the product is still federally Schedule I (for adult-use) and federally illegal across the board for recreational sale. This raises the cost of capital and compounds the capital-access barriers that already fall hardest on under-resourced equity applicants. The Schedule III medical reclassification does not fix banking, since it does not legalize the substance.

Psychedelics: Psilocybin, MDMA, and ibogaine all remain Schedule I federally. The April 18, 2026 executive order, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/accelerating-medical-treatments-for-serious-mental-illness/] plus FDA priority vouchers fast-track FDA review, but there is no approval yet. Maryland's own pathway is study-and-recommend, not access: the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances recommended decriminalization and a therapeutic framework in late 2025, and the 2026 extension law (SB 336 / HB 427, sponsors Sen. Brian Feldman, D, and Del. Pam Guzzone, D), signed April 28, 2026, carries the task force through 2027. Maryland is therefore moving at the speed of its task force while the federal pathway moves at the speed of FDA review; neither has produced legal access, and any near-term Maryland therapeutic program would still collide with federal Schedule I status until FDA approval or rescheduling lands. WYPR, Marijuana Moment

Fentanyl: The HALT Fentanyl Act (July 17, 2025) permanently placed fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I, locking in federal criminal exposure. This runs alongside, and in tension with, Maryland's overdose-response strategy, which credits harm reduction and treatment for opioid deaths hitting a 10-year low in 2026. Maryland Matters

Harm reduction: Maryland's harm-reduction infrastructure is robust, with authorized syringe services programs, broad naloxone, and legal fentanyl and xylazine test strip distribution. It is now directly exposed to the SAMHSA guidance of April 24, 2026, which bars federal funds for fentanyl test strips, clean syringes, and sterile water while continuing to support naloxone. Maryland's test strip and syringe programs, which the state credits for the 2026 overdose decline, lose a federal funding stream and would have to be backfilled by the Opioid Restitution Fund or other state and local dollars to be sustained. Naloxone distribution is not hit by the cut. Maryland Office of Overdose Response, Maryland Matters

Patient access and rights

This section covers what Maryland law does and does not protect for a medical cannabis patient: use inside a hospital, and the broader rights that follow a patient into work, housing, parenting, an organ transplant list, and school. It is information, not legal advice, and it reflects the law as of July 2026.

Hospital access (Ryan's Law): Maryland has no hospital-access law. No statute requires a hospital, nursing home, or hospice to let a qualifying patient use medical cannabis on site, so whether a facility allows it is left to that facility's own policy, and many refuse. Seven states have now enacted a Ryan's Law protection (California in 2021, and Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington in 2026), and Pennsylvania has a bill pending; Maryland is not among them. The absence is the finding: a Maryland patient has no enforceable right to use their medicine in a hospital today.

Broader protections: Maryland has an operational medical cannabis program (since 2017) and legal adult-use (since 2023), but its cannabis statute (Md. Code, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis, 36-1201) provides only legal immunity for authorized use. A review found none of the six patient protections for employment, housing, parenting, an organ transplant list, school enrollment, or general medical care. The absence is the finding.

Out-of-state patients: Maryland recognizes its own registered patients only; its adult-use market serves anyone 21 and older, but an out-of-state medical card carries no patient protections here.

The federal picture: the April 2026 federal move of state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III did not change any of this. Schedule III does not make dispensary cannabis a lawful prescription medicine and does not create any hospital-use right; only state law can force hospital access, and Maryland has not enacted a Ryan's Law. The absence of the broader protections above is a feature of Maryland law, not something federal rescheduling addresses.

Sources: Maryland cannabis law, Md. Code, Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis, 36-1201.

Analysis: the enclosure read in depth

The 2026 federal posture is medicalize-and-control: relief flows to FDA-approved and medical channels and to large, capitalized incumbents, while small actors and the hemp sector get fenced out. Reading Maryland through that lens:

Who is fenced out: Independent and small-scale operators. The capped, lottery-gated cannabis market under the Maryland Cannabis Administration already limits entry, and the federal layer deepens it. Adult-use operators (the revenue core) get no 280E relief and no banking fix, so the federal tax and capital squeeze persists, and that squeeze falls hardest on thinly capitalized social equity licensees who cannot absorb non-deductible expenses or expensive cash-only operations. Independent hemp retailers are the clearest losers: Maryland already pushed intoxicating hemp into the licensed system in 2025, and the November 12, 2026 federal total-THC standard finishes the job, eliminating the open hemp-THC lane nationally. Would-be entrants face oversubscription (about 1,708 applications for 174 licenses) plus federal financing barriers.

Who consolidates: Larger, better-capitalized cannabis companies that can carry 280E exposure on the adult-use side, structure medical operations to capture the new Schedule III relief, and self-finance around the banking gap. The medical category becomes comparatively more attractive after rescheduling, advantaging operators with the legal and accounting capacity to optimize across both tiers. This is the federal enclosure read in miniature: the rules reward incumbents with scale and fence out the undercapitalized.

State-plus-federal interaction: Maryland's restrictive choices and the federal direction now point the same way on hemp, which is why the national cliff is incremental here rather than disruptive. On cannabis broadly, federal Schedule I status (for adult-use) keeps the entire market walled inside Maryland: no interstate commerce, no normal banking, full 280E on the dominant channel. The one place Maryland's design partly offsets federal enclosure is its deliberate equity tilt and consumer carve-outs.

Commons counter-moves present in Maryland: The state is unusually strong on commons-protecting moves even within an enclosed market. Equity: a first-in-nation social-equity-only initial licensing round and a dedicated Office of Social Equity. Expungement: 2025 automatic shielding of pardoned low-level cannabis convictions and broadened expungement eligibility, plus reclassification of large-quantity cannabis offenses away from mandatory minimums. Home production: protected home grow (2 plants per adult, 4 per household) and 2025 legalization of homemade edibles and concentrates, which preserve a non-commercial lane the federal enclosure does not reach. Harm reduction: robust syringe, naloxone, and test strip programs, though these are now exposed to the SAMHSA funding cut and will need state backfill.

What to watch: whether Maryland backfills test strip and syringe funding after the SAMHSA cut; whether medical-side operators restructure to capture Schedule III 280E relief and whether that pulls activity away from the adult-use channel; the second licensing lottery round and whether it widens or narrows real access for under-resourced applicants; the psychedelics task force extension and whether it ever converts study into access against a still-Schedule I federal backdrop; and any movement (unlikely in this Congress) on SAFER Banking that would relieve the capital squeeze on equity licensees.

Why 3/5: Maryland is genuinely mid-spectrum. The structural fencing is real, a capped and lottery-gated market, a 12 percent tax, a closed hemp channel now reinforced by federal law, no citizen initiative to force bottom-up change, and federal Schedule I plus stalled banking squeezing the adult-use core. But the counter-moves are substantive, not cosmetic: a leading social-equity design, real expungement, protected home grow and home production, and strong harm reduction. The federal 2026 layer pushes toward consolidation and fences out small and hemp actors, but it does not erase Maryland's commons carve-outs, and the hemp cliff is incremental here rather than destructive because the state already restricted hemp. That balance, meaningful enclosure offset by meaningful commons protection, lands at 3/5 rather than higher.

Active legislation (2026)

This list is not exhaustive. For the full set of bills, track LegiScan Maryland, the Maryland General Assembly site.

Beyond the live tracker

These measures are not in the live bill list below: some are not bills (executive orders, rules, referendums, or budgets), and some are proposals or prior-session measures the live tracker does not currently carry.

Bill number unconfirmed Extend Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances through 2027 (Signed by Governor Moore on April 28, 2026 (SB 336 / HB 427); the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances is extended through 2027. (source))
Bill number unconfirmed Companion: extend psychedelics task force through 2027 (Filed/advancing (companion))
Bill number unconfirmed Psychedelics task force to recommend online sales and delivery for psilocybin, DMT, mescaline (Filed (per reporting))
HB 352 (FY2026 budget) Raised adult-use cannabis tax 9% to 12% (Enacted; effective July 1, 2025)

Bill	Title/Topic	Chamber	Status	Sponsor(s)
Bill number unconfirmed	Extend Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances through 2027	Senate	Signed by Governor Moore on April 28, 2026 (SB 336 / HB 427); the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances is extended through 2027. (source)	Sen. Brian Feldman (D)
Bill number unconfirmed	Companion: extend psychedelics task force through 2027	House	Filed/advancing (companion)	Del. Pam Guzzone (D)
Bill number unconfirmed	Psychedelics task force to recommend online sales and delivery for psilocybin, DMT, mescaline	Unconfirmed	Filed (per reporting)	Unconfirmed
HB 352 (FY2026 budget)	Raised adult-use cannabis tax 9% to 12%	Both (budget)	Enacted; effective July 1, 2025	Administration/budget bill
HB 132 / SB 215 (2025)	On-site consumption lounges, cannabis events, second lottery round, owner-to-employee sales	Both	Enacted 2025; implementation ongoing into 2026	Unconfirmed

Note: Several 2026 cannabis and hemp measures may be active that are not captured above; some bill numbers and sponsors could not be confirmed from the sources reviewed and are marked unconfirmed.

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A planning snapshot for 2026, not legal advice. Policy moves quickly; confirm any single detail against the cited sources before acting on it. Sponsor names are given where confirmable and marked unconfirmed otherwise.

About the author. Jessica Mantonya is the founder of Drug Policy Watch and Hold in Common. She also advises operators, advocates, and funders on regulatory strategy and anti-enclosure positioning. Work with her →