Don’t confuse decriminalization, legalization, Md. court tells defense lawyers

A Maryland appeals court has expressed exasperation with defense attorneys who it said confuse decriminalization with legalization when trying to suppress the introduction of evidence found in their clients’ automobiles by police officers who saw or smelled small amounts of marijuana before conducting their search. The confusion is based on the “tendency … of defense counsel to overread, stubbornly  and massively,” Maryland’s 2014 law that made possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana a civil offense sanctionable by a $100 fine rather than a crime punishable by incarceration, the Court of Special Appeals stated in a reported 3-0 opinion Monday.