When the state of Maryland legalized the sale of marijuana a few years ago, they decided that they would set aside a few dollars from each sale to go into a reparations fund which would pay for all sorts of social programs.
Now the fund has $35 million in it but almost none of the money has been paid out because pretty much everyone involved is fighting for control of the fund. Who could have predicted that such a thing would happen?
It’s probably safe to assume that lots of people are going to be very disappointed when this is all finally sorted out and decided.
The Baltimore Beat reports:
Baltimore has received more than $35 million in cannabis reparations money, but none of it has reached residents
In the three years since Maryland legalized recreational cannabis, Baltimore has received more than $35 million in tax revenue to reinvest in communities devastated by the War on Drugs. To date, not a single dollar has reached the people it was meant to help, and the first round of funding may still be a year away.
At the center of the delay is an escalating dispute over who controls the money: City Hall or the Baltimore Community Reinvestment and Reparations Commission, the 17-member body established in November 2024 to oversee how the funds are distributed. City Hall says the mayor has final say, while commissioners maintain the body was created to independently manage the funds.
That holdup means that while Maryland’s legalization of cannabis in 2023 led to over $1.1 billion in sales over the following year alone, even as Black communities continue to be targeted by the drug war, none of it has helped repair that damage…
State Senator Mary Washington, who sponsored SB0894, told the Beat that the law was not intended to give local elected officials control over how the money is spent, and argued Baltimore City’s interpretation is out of step with how the law has been understood elsewhere in Maryland.
“The money was never intended to be a slush fund for a county executive or mayor,” she said. Instead, she said, it was meant to reinvest in communities impacted by the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, which continue to face disparities in homeownership, wealth-building, and life expectancy.
This has disaster written all over it.
Hellbound and Down 