Maryland
Maryland Collected Nearly $15 Million In Marijuana Sales Tax Revenue For First Quarter Of 2024
“The growing cannabis industry holds immense potential for economic growth for Maryland.”
By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
Cannabis taxes paid to the state of Maryland for the first three months of 2024 grew by less than 1 percent even as collections fluctuated sharply on a regional basis.
Maryland collected nearly $14.7 million in taxes on sales of recreational cannabis in the first quarter of this year, an increase of less than 0.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the Office of the Comptroller. The data released Wednesday is just the third quarterly report since July 1, 2023, when Maryland residents 21 and older could legally purchase cannabis for recreational use.
“The growing cannabis industry holds immense potential for economic growth for Maryland.” Comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a statement. “Reinvesting the revenue from adult-use cannabis sales into communities that were damaged by misguided policies allows us to further create a more equitable, resilient, and prosperous future for all Marylanders.”
Maryland imposes a 9 percent sales tax on recreational cannabis products. There is no sales tax on medical purchases.
The Maryland Cannabis Administration divides the state into five regions—Capital, Central, Eastern, Southern and Western.
Currently, there are 96 dispensaries spread across the state’s 23 counties and Baltimore City. A comptroller’s spokesperson declined to release county-by-county tax collection data Thursday, saying that doing so could potentially lead to the identification of individual businesses and violate tax privacy laws.
Tax collections in some regions have fluctuated over the first nine months of recreational sales. Officials in the comptroller’s office and the cannabis administration could not immediately account for the variances.
The Capital Region, comprising the two most populous counties in Maryland—Montgomery and Prince George’s—accounted for more than $6.7 million in taxes, a 76 percent increase over the previous quarter. The amount represented 46 percent of all cannabis taxes collected in the first three months of the year, the first time the region has led the state in cannabis taxes remitted.
The $3.7 million remitted by shops in the Central Region, meanwhile, was a drop of nearly 44 percent from the previous quarter. The region comprises Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.
In the Eastern Region, which includes nine Eastern Shore counties stretching from Cecil to Worcester, sales tax collection grew to nearly $1.6 million. That is 15 percent more than in the previous three months, and it marks the second consecutive quarter of increased collections for the region.
Sales tax collections in the Western Region grew by more than 29 percent quarter over quarter. It was also the second consecutive quarter of growth for that region, which includes Allegany, Garrett, Frederick and Washington counties.
The Southern Region remitted $618,218, a decrease of more than 40 percent over the last three months of 2023. The amount is also lower than the more than $760,000 collected in the first three months of legal recreational sales. The region includes Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.
Taxes from the sales of recreational cannabis are divided among the counties, the state and the Maryland Cannabis Administration, which got nearly $2.8 million in this quarter. The rest of the money is divided between jurisdictions.
Areas disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws prior to last July receive 35 percent of the taxes collected each quarter, after the administration takes its cut. That fund will receive nearly $4.2 million from collections in the first quarter.
Five percent of the total tax collected in a quarter is earmarked for the state’s 24 major political subdivisions. This quarter the counties and Baltimore City will split more than $593,000. The split is based on the percentage of taxes collected by each jurisdiction. Those jurisdictions then share 50% of their respective cut with municipalities that have cannabis dispensaries that contributed to the sales and use tax collection.
Another 5 percent goes to a fund to help address health effects of recreational cannabis use.
A fund established to help small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses enter the adult-use cannabis industry also receives 5 percent. That earmark continues through fiscal 2028.
The state receives the balance. More than $5.9 million in taxes collected in the first three months of the year will go directly to the general fund, according to the comptroller’s office.
This story was first published by Maryland Matters.
Maryland Governor Launches Marijuana Workforce Development Program Focused On People Criminalized Over Cannabis
The state said the five recently traveled together to “a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak.”
Maryland health officials confirmed five more measles cases, all in Carroll County.
“These individuals recently traveled together to a location in the U.S. experiencing an active measles outbreak,” the state Department of Health said in a release.
The agency said others may have been exposed on the afternoon of July 13 in the emergency department waiting room at Carroll Hospital Center in Westminster.
Another measles case recently prompted warnings from health officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District. On June 17, a Maryland resident traveled through Dulles International Airport and visited a D.C. urgent care clinic.
Measles is highly contagious. It can spread through the air through coughs, breathing, and sneezes. Early symptoms can include fevers of over 101 degrees, coughs, runny noses, watery eyes and face or body rashes.
It can take up to 21 days after exposure for the first symptoms to appear, and those who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles are especially vulnerable.
The five new measles cases in Maryland bring the state’s year-to-date total to nine. The state health department confirmed three cases in 2025, and one in each of the previous two years.
“All Marylanders should review potential exposure times, watch for symptoms, and confirm they are up to date on their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations,” the health department said.
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Baltimore may be under an extreme heat alert, but residents can dream about autumn, as tickets are now on sale for the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show returning to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in October.
This three-day celebration of home and garden takes place from Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Expect hundreds of exhibitors, local makers, home improvement experts, family-friendly experiences and celebrity guests. The show offers everyone the chance to explore the very latest in home improvement, landscaping, outdoor living and decor, the chance to take part in hands-on experiences, and do some holiday shopping all under one roof.
This year’s show will have more than 300 exhibitors, including more than 100 crafters from around Maryland in the Makers Market. There will be unique exhibits, stage presentations and a special appearance by Chase Morrill, Ashley Morrill-Eldridge and Ryan Eldridge from Magnolia Network’s hit series “Maine Cabin Masters.” The three will have two Main Stage appearances, one on Friday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. and the second on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 12 p.m.
“As temperatures start to drop and the holiday season comes into view, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show is a place to gather ideas, meet local experts and get inspired before the busy season begins,” said Dave Paul, show manager, in a statement. “Whether attendees are planning a home project, looking for outdoor living ideas or getting a head start on holiday shopping, the show brings together resources and experiences for every kind of homeowner, maker and DIY enthusiast.”
In addition to the Makers Market and stars of “Maine Cabin Masters”, the Maryland Fall Home & Garden + Craft Show will have a petting zoo, a Kids Market where attendees can shop from local children, and much more.
Tickets are available online and at the door. Prices are as follows:
Online:
- Adults: $8
- Senior Citizens (60+): $6
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- 4-Pack Online: $30 for four tickets, valid for one admission each and one day only
At the door:
- Adults: $10
- Senior Citizens (60+): $8
- Children (ages 6-12): $4
- Friday & Saturday: $4 after 4 p.m. at the door only
Special Offers:
- Active and retired military personnel, veterans, firefighters and police officers receive free admission all weekend, along with one guest, with valid ID at the box office.
- Attendees who show a CharmPass app, Light RailLink ticket or eligible transit pass at the box office receive free admission any day of the show. One admission is available per pass.
The Maryland State Fairgrounds is located at 2200 York Road in Lutherville-Timonium.
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Maryland
Maryland police arrest alleged bank robber wielding stolen cat: ‘Tried to use her as an accessory’
Law enforcement agencies are accustomed to dealing with cat burglars – but now a Maryland police department is saying it grappled with a cat-wielding bank robber.
The Prince George’s county police department said its officers arrested a man suspected of stealing a cat and then taking the animal with him to a PNC bank branch in the local community of Beltsville to rob the establishment on Monday morning.
“The cat was returned” after the suspect was arrested, the police department said in a statement to the Guardian on Tuesday. The agency said no injuries were reported, and it declined to name the suspect or release additional details, saying the case – bound for a spot in the annals of bizarre reported US crimes – remained under investigation.
Nonetheless, a social media post from rescue shelter Beltsville Community Cats provided more information.
A Beltsville Community Cats Facebook page post on Monday identified the cat at the center of the alleged botched caper as Magnolia, a three-and-a-half-month-old tuxedo kitten. The shelter recounted how the suspect first snatched Magnolia from her “adoption habitat” at Beltsville’s Pet Supplies Plus store, took her across the parking lot to a PNC branch, and “tried to use her as an accessory in [an] attempted robbery”.
“He asked the bank manager to hold the kitten while he wrote a note, then handed the note to a teller demanding all the cash,” the post continued. “Thankfully, the robbery was unsuccessful, the suspect was arrested, and Magnolia was found safe and sound in the bank manager’s office, where the two had bonded over their shared ordeal.”
Pet Supplies Plus store employees told the NBC affiliate in nearby Washington DC that Magnolia’s cat napper had come in daily for about two weeks and focused on the kitten each time.
Finally, on Monday, he managed to use a key to open a cat adoption area and whisked Magnolia away, store employees said to the outlet, WRC.
Store manager Aaron Kurkowski told WRC that Magnolia’s thief “came in and saw none of my team was nearby the front – and he just went right to her and ran right on out”.
According to WRC, Stephanie Stullich of Beltsville Community Cats then received a call from a pet store employee who alerted her to Magnolia’s plight.
That prompted Stullich to run over to the store, where she said to WRC that she “immediately saw all of these police cars and … thought, ‘Wow, that’s a heck of a response for a stolen cat’.”
“But then I realized they all were going down to the bank,” Stullich recalled to WRC. “They came back out a few minutes later and said, ‘Yes, there is a cat inside the bank.’”
Two days before her catnapping, Magnolia was the subject of a Beltsville Community Cats Facebook post inviting people to see her at Pet Supplies Plus and consider adopting her.
Magnolia as of Monday was still waiting to be adopted, Beltsville Community Cats said in its post detailing the bank robbery.
The non-profit organization offered members of the public the opportunity to apply to adopt Magnolia by emailing rescue@beltsvillecats.net.
Beltsville Community Cats’ post also joked that Magnolia’s “brief ‘life of crime’ is behind her” – except for undoubtedly “stealing” hearts, treats, toys and cuddles wherever her forever home may be.
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