MariMed Inc. (OTCQX: MRMD) (“MariMed” or the “Company”), a leading multi-state cannabis operator focused on improving lives every day, today announced it completed the acquisition of Kind Therapeutics U.S.A., LLC (“Kind”), a leading vertically integrated cannabis business in Maryland.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission approved the transfer to MariMed at their April 13th meeting and the closing took place April 27, 2022. MariMed was instrumental in the development of the Kind operations from its inception in 2017. The Company owns, and had developed, a 180,000 square foot cannabis cultivation and production facility in Hagerstown and is developing a 6,000 square foot dispensary in Anne Arundel County, both of which were leased to Kind.

Maryland lawmakers voted Friday to let voters decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in November.

The Maryland House voted 94-39 for a constitutional amendment already approved by the Senate. The House also voted 89-41 for a separate measure that takes steps to implement recreational marijuana, if voters approve, but it leaves matters of licensing and taxes for lawmakers to decide next year. The constitutional amendment does not require approval from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. The General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, sent the implementation bill to Hogan in time to override a veto, if the governor rejects the measure, before lawmakers adjourn April 11. The House and Senate both passed the bill with enough votes to override a veto.

The long and winding path toward legalizing recreational marijuana in Maryland continues this legislative session as lawmakers in both chambers of the General Assembly are holding workgroups and drafting bills.

Members of the state Senate’s Finance Committee had their first glimpse at a pair of House bills — HB 0001 and HB 0837 — at a meeting on March 23. State Del. Luke Clippinger, D-Baltimore County, is the sponsor of both pieces of legislation and went before his counterparts in the Senate for the bill hearings.

HB 0001, as proposed, would call for a constitutional amendment by way of a referendum question on a future ballot, perhaps as soon as November. HB 0837 outlines cannabis reform by way of a baseline study that would examine a range of related issues.

Nearly two thirds of Marylanders, 62%, support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, according to the latest Goucher College poll.

Support for the legalization of cannabis reached its highest point since Goucher College starting polling around marijuana in 2013 in the March 2021 results, in which two thirds of Marylanders approved. That support has since waned slightly.

Although a majority of those polled supported legalization, there was some clear division in support along party lines.

Among Democrats, 65% support while 32% percent oppose it.

More Republicans are supporting legalizing marijuana use than ever before, with 54% of those polled supporting the move and 44% opposing it.

Among independents, 65% support it and 32% oppose it.

The legalization of recreational marijuana is now on the table in the Maryland Senate after the House of Delegates approved proposals that could make it legal. The Senate is considering guidelines for the marketing, licensing, and taxation of adult-use of the plant.

With the House of Delegates has passed proposals to legalize recreational marijuana, the Senate has taken up the issue with a decidedly different focus.

While bills in the Senate are also aimed at making recreational use legal, they want to make it profitable.

The Senate Finance Committee is discussing a pair of bills (SB692/SB833) that would allow the state to collect tax from recreational marijuana processors and dispensaries.

Recreational cannabis advances to the next stage in Maryland, but will it finally push through and become law?

On Friday, Maryland’s House of Delegates approved two bills designed to legalize recreational marijuana. Under the measures, Maryland voters will decide if marijuana should be legalized, leaving lawmakers to then draft the details for regulating a commercial cannabis industry.

“We’re at the beginning of an important process where we begin to look again at how we have treated the substance—cannabis,” Democratic Delegate Luke Clippinger, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the sponsor of the legislation, told his colleagues in the House.

Democrats in the House of Delegates defeated Republican attempts to amend two marijuana legalization measures on Wednesday, setting the stage for final action by the chamber later this week.

House Bill 1 would establish a referendum on a proposed constitutional amendment that would — if approved — make Maryland the 19th state to allow possession and use of small amounts of marijuana.

HB 837 is “contingent” legislation that would lay out a framework for how legalization would work if the referendum passes in November.

Lawmakers gave preliminary approval to both measures, after debating the issue for nearly 90 minutes with remarkably few fireworks.

Maryland is introducing legislation that would position the mid-Atlantic state for a future with legal cannabis.

The Democratic leadership of Maryland’s House of Delegates last Thursday introduced a bill to legalize cannabis for adults. The measure, House Bill 837, would legalize possession of up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis for adults and create an equitable path to cannabis legalization, according to the sponsor of the legislation.

The bill is contingent on the passage of a marijuana legalization referendum planned for Maryland’s November general election. Last summer, Democratic House Speaker Adrienne Jones expressed her support for such a vote and established a legislative workgroup to study issues related to cannabis legalization.

Marylanders may get the chance to vote in November on whether to legalize marijuana for adults’ recreational use.

A new bill in the Maryland House of Delegates specifies a framework of what legalization would entail.

House Bill 837, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chair Luke Clippinger, a Democrat from Baltimore, was introduced Thursday, as a companion to House Bill 1, which would allow voters to vote in November whether to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and over, effective July 1, 2023.

Clippinger said in a Baltimore Sun editorial that public sentiment about marijuana has shifted in the last decade, with more states legalizing recreational use.

Maryland lawmakers are meeting this week to start their 90-day legislative session to discuss topics concerning the $4.5 billion budget surplus, COVID-19, climate change and legalizing recreational marijuana.

The Democratic-controlled Maryland General Assembly will plan how to manage the surplus for the current and upcoming fiscal years, and state Senate President Bill Ferguson said they need to be careful how they approach the budget.

"I think people have heard this $4.6 billion like it's time that we can fund everything possible, but we've got to be very, very thoughtful and moderate about how we approach it, because we don't want to set ourselves up for a fiscal cliff in two to three years from now," Ferguson said.