Commentary

Not long ago, I got in the car, and a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tune was on the radio. I was hopeful that the next song would be another Tom Petty favorite, since it was Tuesday, and “Twofer Tuesday” has been a staple of rock radio as long as Petty himself. But the next song was Journey, and the song after that wasn’t another Journey song.

As a governor-appointed member of the Maryland Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council, many of my colleagues have asked for my thoughts on what will happen next with the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III in the Controlled Substance Act (CSA). As a physician who integrates medical cannabis into my patients’ treatments, I do welcome this change as an important step forward, but the journey is far from over.

As we enter the last summer before Sen. Ben Cardin retires from many years of distinguished service in Maryland, I am awash with memories of my short stint working for him in the House of Representatives. I was lucky to have the opportunity to closely observe a political anomaly — that rare political leader who doesn’t shed integrity the higher he climbs.

If you were alive in 1965, feel free to skip this missive. If you weren’t, you might not grasp why Willie Mays was such a big deal, and even putting it that way doesn’t give the great man his full due. In his prime — and his prime lasted for what seemed forever — he was the best all-around player baseball had ever seen. Was, and maybe still is.

That certainly is true for Frederick, which might be one of the best places in the country to plan a summer “staycation.” This is a city that likes to have fun year-around, but it really heats up — both figuratively and literally — after Memorial Day and keeps going right until school starts again. Alive@Five, the summer concert series sponsored by the Downtown Frederick Partnership at Carroll Creek Park, is underway, attracting good-size audiences to a variety of music on Thursdays.

The civics lessons implicit in news coverage and social media posts relating to the 2024 election, the conflict in Israel and Gaza, crime and safety, and other pressing issues are clear. They suggest that the role of a good citizen is to choose sides and speak out, knowing that an election might empower one’s enemies, and that silence might mean complicity. The civic environment driven by our feeds is full of fury and alarm.

Whatever criticism Gov. Wes Moore may draw for his decision to issue a staggering 175,000 pardons on misdemeanor marijuana charges, one has to acknowledge the unreasonableness of maintaining the status quo. Maryland has today not only legalized pot but now rakes in huge fees from its licensed dispensaries. Yet there still are individuals — and they are disproportionately likely to be Black men — disadvantaged for having been charged with cannabis possession in the past.