County Council bill would allocate cannabis taxes to help those harmed by drug prohibition

Proposed legislation follows state law creating Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund

February 20, 2024 7:34 p.m.

A new bill that would create a commission to determine how funds raised through cannabis taxes would be distributed to communities most impacted by cannabis prohibition is under consideration by the Montgomery County Council.


In November 2022, Maryland voters overwhelmingly supported legalization of cannabis—more than 67% of voters were in favor. The Maryland General Assembly spent much of the 2023 session working on legislation to regulate and oversee cannabis use in the state.

One of the state laws passed by legislators created the state’s Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund, which holds 35% of cannabis revenues from the new state recreational cannabis excise tax. Those funds will be split amongst Maryland jurisdictions, proportionate to the rate at which their residents faced prosecution for cannabis possession charges. Each jurisdiction is responsible for creating their own policies and methods for distributing those funds to community-based organizations.

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“The recreational adult-use constitutional amendment in Maryland created new markets for economic opportunity to flourish. But we must recognize that it also highlighted inequity,” said councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5), who is one of the lead sponsors of the bill. “White people will profit immensely from a new commodity that was just a few months ago contraband, funneling disproportionately Black and brown people into the criminal justice system.”


The county bill would create the Montgomery County Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund Commission. The panel would be made up of 13 voting members and one non-voting ex-officio member. At least one member would represent “a service provider for incarcerated persons or persons with a criminal record” and at least one member would be a person who was previously incarcerated or has a criminal history, according to the draft legislation, which does not elaborate on the specific type of criminal history. Members will be selected by the council and county executive through an application process and would receive a $1,000 yearly stipend. The director of the Department of Health and Human Services would serve as the ex-officio member.

The commission would be tasked with recommending grants the county could be eligible to receive, identifying community-based programs and organizations that support marginalized communities, and recommending new or bolstering existing county programs to support people impacted by previous cannabis prohibition.

The legislation is also sponsored by councilmembers Will Jawando (D-At-large) and Laurie-Anne Sayles (D-At-large).

“[People are] still incarcerated due to low level drug possession. This policy was designed to disproportionately attack certain communities,” Jawando said. “This repair fund, while not going to solve all of that, is a step in the right direction.”

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A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March 5. A vote has not been scheduled.

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