The proposal mirrors one winding its way through the legislative process that similarly clamps down on smoke shops — part of an effort council members say is intended to alleviate the concerns of residents who say they have grown tired of streets lined with smoke shops and 24-hour convenience stores selling tobacco products.
Co-sponsor Krystal Oriadha (D-District 7) said in an interview that those concerns extend to the burgeoning businesses of cannabis dispensaries, and that the council intends to make a slow development approach instead of doing nothing.
“Some communities will not have to worry about this, but the quality of stores we get are not the same,” she said. “Questions of quality and oversaturation come up.”
The council will consider grandfathering in existing dispensaries when it reconvenes in the fall, she added. Democratic council members Edward Burroughs III (District 8), Wala Blegay (District 6) and Eric C. Olson (District 3) also sponsored the bill.
Anthony McAuliffe, deputy communications director for county executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said the office is still reviewing the legislation and has not yet taken a position on it.
Maryland became the 21st state to make recreational cannabis sales legal. Legalization allowed for customers 21 and older with government-issued identification to purchase THC products such as edibles, pre-rolled joints and dried flower as of July 1. The first weekend for cannabis legalization brought in more than $10.4 million in total retail sales for medical and adult use, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration.
While the industry’s potential expansion in the county would satisfy a need for Prince George’s to expand its commercial tax base, elected officials say they must balance that need with residents’ wishes for quality growth.
Since the start of the year, the council has introduced and passed legislation that’s tamped down 24-hour smoke shops by restricting their hours of operation and exiling the businesses to areas designated as industrial. It also introduced legislation updating the definitions of convenience store, gas station and tobacco shop that clarified how much floor space could be used for the display and sale of tobacco items. A public hearing on the legislation is scheduled for July 11.
At a March public hearing, residents told the council they were concerned about the messages being sent to children who live in areas saturated with smoke shops. They also expressed worries that illicit activity could be taking place and questioned why some parts of the county had more options to buy tobacco products than fresh groceries.
Erika Fareed, a Glenarden resident and city council member, said that there are three tobacco stores across the road from her municipal center that are within a quarter mile of one another.
“If you go down toward MLK towards Seat Pleasant, within a mile you will encounter two more tobacco stores,” she said. “However if you go on MLK in the opposite direction towards Annapolis Road, you will not encounter another tobacco shop on that strip for at least 12 miles. This is a problem in our community.”
“When people think of industrial zones, they think they’re 30 minutes away,” Oriadha said, noting that the only Black-owned dispensary in the county is just three minutes from an industrial zone. “The placement puts them outside of the strip malls and at the edge of the community.”
That bill goes against what the majority of Marylanders who voted in favor of the marijuana referendum want, said John Kane, vice chair of the Maryland Minority Cannabis Business Association, a trade organization that fights for equity in the cannabis industry.
Under the new law, political subdivisions may not “unduly burden” cannabis licensees with zoning or other such requirements, Kane noted. “The question will be ‘What is the definition of unduly burdened?’ That’s what it will all come down to.”
Michael Chiaramonte, a surgeon who owns Haven Dispensary in Brandywine and a founding member of the Maryland Medical Dispensary Association, said he generally agrees with the council’s goal to prevent overwhelming residents with dispensaries but disagrees with how it would affect businesses that are already part of the county’s fabric.
“You can’t make people who have invested in these businesses close those businesses and lose those licenses when they were compliant with the existing zoning,” he said. “The state was very clear that counties had to set reasonable zoning, and this is not reasonable.”
Oriadha stressed that grandfathering businesses like his will be strongly considered throughout the legislative process, noting that bill language changes often. Its next step is the council’s planning, housing and economic development committee.
“The bill is a starting point and not an ending point,” Oriadha said. “We’re a group that prides ourselves on hearing the concerns. What we’re really focused on is making sure we learn from our mistakes.”
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