By Natalie Jones, CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Creating and selling edible medical cannabis products; allowing inmates to receive medical cannabis treatment; and prohibiting employers from asking about marijuana use could become law in Maryland under bills being pushed in this year's General Assembly. The Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee is expected to hear 18 bills regarding medical cannabis and marijuana use in the state on Tuesday.

While medical cannabis is legal at the state level for patients given approval by the Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, which develops policies and regulations on the drug and qualifies patients to receive it as treatment, recreational marijuana is not yet legalized. Committee Chair Sen. Bobby Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, is the lead sponsor on 11 of the 18 bills and told Capital News Service that the objective of pushing so many pieces of legislation is to normalize medical marijuana as medication, as it's still treated as an illicit drug under federal law.

Over his years serving in the Maryland legislature, Zirkin told Capital News Service, he's seen medical cannabis help people and wants to take away as many roadblocks to it as he can. Senate bill 857, sponsored by Zirkin, will allow certain dispensaries to acquire, possess and sell food containing medical cannabis to qualifying patients, along with allowing certain processors to distribute and sell to specified dispensaries.

However, the development of edible products containing cannabis is very different from dealing with flower, or the smokable part of the cannabis plant, or processed cannabis products, as all food produced or sold in the state is regulated by the Maryland Office of Food Safety, said Joy Strand, executive director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission.

"We're very excited to be able to bring an edibles program to Maryland, but our top focus on any of the products we're doing or regulating is that they're high-quality and safe for patients as a medicinal product," Strand said in a briefing to lawmakers on Jan. 17.

The Senate bill was cross-filed with House bill 17, sponsored by Delegate Cheryl Glenn, D-Baltimore. Glenn, whose mother is the namesake of the commission, is a leading sponsor of medical marijuana legislation. A hearing for that bill was canceled and has not yet been rescheduled. Zirkin, with Sen. Michael Hough, R-Frederick and Carroll, is working to advance legislation — Senate bill 97 — that states that a person can't be denied the right to purchase, possess or carry a firearm solely based on their authorized status as a medical cannabis patient.