Even if we're all still dreaming of the day when we could just walk into a recreational dispensary, you still have plenty of options to get weed in Maryland. The Gentleman has compiled all of them into this handy guide for you!
Of course, if you have any legal questions, I always advise you have a chat with a lawyer cuz there’s a billion of em around here and I’m just a claymation homunculus.
So what do you want to know about?
- Decriminalization Means...
- Get Your Medical Card
- MD Dispensary Guide
- I Heard It's Legal in DC?
- CBD - It's Everywhere!
- Rec Sales When?
Decriminalization Means...
So, here’s the deal: recreational pot is still illegal in the state of Maryland (we think it's stupid, too.)
The bright spot is that possession of anything less than 10 grams of pot has officially been decriminalized.
So you can just blaze blunts in front of City Hall all day blasting NWA and nobody can say anything if you have less than 10 grams, right? The answer isn’t that simple.
Decriminalization just means that you can’t face criminal charges for having some weed on you. In other words, if you run into the cops, you won’t get hit with a criminal penalty, but they will confiscate your buds and hit you with a fine.
If you’re caught with less than 10 grams, you can get off easy with just a $100 fine.
If you’ve got more than that, you’re looking at a misdemeanor penalty or $1000 in fines. You better believe they’re gonna add the weight of the baggie, so skew under.
FYI, edibles are usually weighed as the entire cookie or tincture or whatever, not the percentage of THC they contain, so you could rack up more than 10g real fast with Grandma’s world-famous Pearl Jam. Be careful!
You’re not allowed to smoke in public or behind the wheel even as an MMJ patient- keep your medicine at home and locked up tight!
Get Your Medical Marijuana Card
Medical marijuana is totally legal in Maryland! But still federally illegal. Y'know.
But patients aren’t allowed to grow it themselves. Medical marijuana patients in MD are locked into the dispensary system for medicine.
I know, I’m all blue sad crying face emoji about it, too.
Good news is that getting your medical card is super-easy!
It can take a while for the state to process your application, though, so you want to get on it ASAP.
The full list of accepted conditions is on this page. If your usual doctor is registered with the Maryland Medical Marijuana Commission, they can help you with the recommendation you’ll need to become a patient.
You can also look up providers on the MMCC website. But if you just want to get your card ASAP, then hit up my friends at Veriheal, they’ll hook you up with one of their canna-friendly docs lickety-split for $200.
Maryland Dispensary Guide
I've been bouncing around Maryland’s medical marijuana scene since the dispensaries first opened in December ‘17. FYI, a lot of dispensaries offer delivery if you can’t make it to the store or can direct you to caregivers that are licensed to get your cannabis medicine for you.
On the outskirts of Washington DC, you should check out RISE in Silver Spring or Bethesda. They’re operated by Green Thumb Industries. GTI also operates the processor Rythm and has the license for Mary’s Medicinals brand in Maryland. I really like Rythm’s CO2 extracted vape cartridges. I also liked the vape I got from gLeaf recently.
Hailing from Las Vegas, the Verano brand consistently has the best flowers out of everything I’ve smoked so far, but they tend to be pricey.
They also do their own extraction so you’ll find Verano’s Sunrock Shatter, vapes, and ingestibles like their gummy troches at lots of dispensaries, but for the best selection, check out their vertically-integrated ZenLeaf shops in Columbia and Jessup.
My favorite concentrates these days are from Culta. Their dispensary on Key Highway has an insane selection of shatters, sugars, badders, live resins, diamonds, you name it. Their prices are the lowest around and the shatter is a particularly good deal at $40/gram, and 3 for $99 everyday.
Culta's quality has been consistently excellent in my experience. It tastes clean, y’know what I mean, Verne? I've seen some great flowers from them recently, too.
GreenLabs in Fells Point has one of the hottest deals around- $18 eighths of three select strains all day Sunday draws crowds all day long. It's not top shelf stuff, but it's a good deal.
I'm also digging Grassroots products. I love visiting their deli-style dispensary in Gaithersburg for my pick of flowers. "Deli-style" means the flower is weighed out in front of you.
Grassroots' cheaper concentrate is hit or miss, but the live sugars rock. Their RSO is still fantastic! I’ve finally settled on Iditarod as my favorite after very extensive testing.
I have developed a strong appreciation for Dixie ingestibles like their Awakening Tablets and infused Tea (as Maryland doesn’t currently allow traditional edibles like THC infused cookies and brownies and hard candies and whatnot). The Dixie brand is multi-state and licensed locally by Curio Wellness whose shop is located in Timonium.
Just outside the city in Reisterstown, you’ll find processor Curaleaf’s store- they make some fantastic CO2 & distillate extracts. I was impressed with Temescal Wellness’ dispensary in Pikesville but even more so with their flower- well worth a visit!
In Prince George’s County, Mary & Main in Capitol Heights boasts the youngest dispensary owner in the United States, Hope Wiseman, so show her some love!
Farther south, I dig Southern Maryland Relief in Mechanicsville a lot, great folks there that love the community. They’ve got dispensaries in Ocean City but be discreet! Your Gentleman was tossed out on his ass by the Commander Hotel last summer.
I Heard It's Legal in DC?
Maybe you don’t want a medical card because you have top-secret government clearances to operate bazooka drones. Or maybe you don’t want to forfeit your collection of exotic and antique firearms.
Cool cool cool. You’ve got some options on social media and other sites, but a quick trip down to Washington DC and you can find gift weed delivery or pick-up from a ton of awesome brands your Gentleman has personally vetted.
You can find more info about how weed gifting works in DC on this page. In short: you're not buying the flowers, you're buying the other thing they're selling for you, whether that’s baseball cards, books, whatever.
They give you the goods as a gift -- a token of their affection and appreciation, if you will. Just let 'em know where you wanna meet up and when they’re generally very flexible.
If you’re willing to risk it for the biscuit, you can try looking for other Maryland marijuana enthusiasts on social media like Instagram and Facebook or apps like Mass Roots and High There!
Or check out LeafedIn.org, there are some brands there operating in Maryland, but I can’t vet these guys for you so stay smart and stay safe! And please don’t forget who told you where to get weed when the zombies come!
CBD- It's Everywhere!
Have you heard about CBD, the other cannabinoid in weed that doesn’t get you high but has actually been used in an FDA-approved medication to treat epilepsy? Anecdotal evidence abounds that CBD can help you fight inflammation, anxiety, pain, even more serious ailments.
Personally, I find topicals the most useful- CBD is what BenGay is supposed to be and opioids just mask pain signals, not actually heal my jacked-up back.
You generally want a Full-Spectrum to include as many helpful cannabinoids, terpenes, and other mystery compounds of which Science Knows Not yet as you can get. That means it might include a tiny, allowable percentage of THC. Keep that in mind if you’re regularly drug-tested!
You should be okay if you’re only using it as a topical, but it’s your job and I’m just an invisible voice on the internet, sooooo. And keep in mind that CBD is definitely psychoactive, it just doesn’t get you “high.” It gets you “calm.”
In the wake of last year’s Farm Bill that legalized hemp, you can you find CBD at every head shop, tobacco shop, gas stations, even freakin' CVS! But I recommend you visit the specialty brick-and-mortar stores for best selection and knowledgeable staff.
Personally, I really dig 529 Vapes in Baltimore, located in the historic Fells Point neighborhood, and there’s a place that infuses organic hipster juices with CBD like a block away from there.
Plus you can get it shipped to you over the internet! Check out my friends at District Hemp. I’ve got lots of CBD reviews here and workin on more, there is a deluge of products on the market right now!
Rec Sales When?
While there is a groundswell of support for legalizing recreational/adult-use cannabis among Marylanders and their legislature, Governor Hogan has been noncommittal on the matter to date.
In theory, he could follow the example of Gov. LePage in Maine and block the state from ending marijuana prohibition in Maryland. Stay tuned to GT for updates!
