Maryland cannabis rules for visitors

Adults 21 and older may possess the personal use amount, which Maryland law defines as up to 1.5 ounces of usable cannabis, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis or cannabis products containing up to 750 milligrams of delta-9-THC, with two or fewer cannabis plants listed as a fourth alternative in the same definition (Md. Code, Criminal Law 5-101). Maryland sets no separate visitor limit, so residents and tourists share the same caps. The same amounts work as a daily purchase limit: a dispensary may not knowingly sell anyone more than the personal use amount in a single day (COMAR 14.17.12.04), and the Maryland Cannabis Administration treats the three categories as combined, so a shopper who buys the maximum of one product type may not add another type (MCA dispensary guidance, September 4, 2026). More than the personal use amount but no more than 2.5 ounces of flower, 20 grams of concentrate or 1,250 milligrams of THC is a civil offense with a fine of up to $250 (Criminal Law 5-601).

Bring a physical, valid government photo ID that shows your birth date; a foreign passport is on the state's list of accepted IDs, and MCA says out-of-state visitors 21 and older may buy adult-use cannabis (COMAR 14.17.12.04; MCA FAQ). Smoking is legal only on private property where the owner allows it: smoking cannabis in a public place, which MCA says includes streets, sidewalks, parks, bars and restaurants, is a civil offense with a fine of up to $50 for a first finding (Criminal Law 5-601). Most hotels ban cannabis smoking in rooms, no consumption lounge has been licensed, and only micro dispensaries may deliver to adult-use customers, and only to residences. MCA says it is illegal to leave or enter Maryland with any cannabis, and BWI Marshall, federal land such as Assateague Island and Fort McHenry, and trips into Washington, D.C., Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania or West Virginia bring federal or other jurisdictions' law into play.

The regulator is the Maryland Cannabis Administration. Check any shop's license on the state license lookup before you buy.

Adults 21 and older may possess the personal use amount, which Maryland law defines as up to 1.5 ounces of usable cannabis, up to 12 grams of concentrated cannabis or cannabis products containing up to 750 milligrams of delta-9-THC, and lists two or fewer cannabis plants as a fourth alternative (Criminal Law 5-101). The same caps apply to residents and visitors; the law sets no lower non-resident limit. The Maryland Cannabis Administration's FAQ puts it in shopping terms: 1.5 ounces of flower, including pre-rolls, 12 grams of concentrates such as vapes and wax, or 750 milligrams of THC in edibles, beverages, capsules and tinctures.

The same numbers work as a daily purchase limit. A dispensary agent may not knowingly sell anyone more than the personal use amount in a single day, and vaporizing devices are weighed as concentrates (COMAR 14.17.12.04). MCA reads the categories as combined: its dispensary guidance, updated September 4, 2026, says a shopper who buys the maximum of one product type may not buy any other type, and it lists 1.5 ounces of flower plus a 1 gram vape cartridge as a violation. Agents may also refuse a sale that looks like buying for resale or diversion.

Adult-use products carry their own potency caps. Edibles, capsules and tinctures sold to adult-use customers may hold up to 10 milligrams of THC per serving and 100 milligrams per package, and a concentrate container sold to an adult-use buyer may weigh 1 gram or less, though vapes and infused pre-rolls are exempt from that 1 gram cap (COMAR 14.17.12.04; MCA dispensary guidance). Stronger products are reserved for registered medical patients. MCA's dispensary tip sheet adds that there is no limit on lotions, topicals, ointments or salves.

Sharing is legal, selling is not. Adults 21 and older may transfer up to the personal use amount to each other without payment, but not when the gift comes with another transaction or an offer to sell goods or services (Criminal Law 5-602). Amounts above the personal use amount are not protected: more than 1.5 and up to 2.5 ounces of flower, more than 12 and up to 20 grams of concentrate, or more than 750 and up to 1,250 milligrams of THC is the civil use amount, which carries a civil fine of up to $250 (Criminal Law 5-101, 5-601).

You must be 21 or older, and a licensee may not sell, transfer or deliver adult-use cannabis without checking a valid driver's license or other government-issued photo ID that shows your date of birth (Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 36-1101). Dispensaries restrict their premises to adults 21 and older, registered medical patients and registered caregivers; the one exception is a child younger than 8 who stays with a patient or caregiver for the whole visit (COMAR 14.17.12.02). MCA's FAQ adds that members of the military get no exception from the age limit.

Maryland's rule names the IDs that count: a state driver's license, a U.S. passport or passport card, a non-driver state photo ID card, a foreign passport, a U.S. military ID card or a tribal card, each valid, unexpired and showing the buyer's birth date (COMAR 14.17.12.04). A student ID issued by a college or university does not qualify. MCA's October 2025 policy FAQ says a dispensary may accept only a physical card, not the Maryland Mobile ID, and its March 2026 newsletter said the agency was only exploring a mobile driver's license pilot.

Visitors can buy. MCA's FAQ says people from out of state who are at least 21 and carry government-issued ID may purchase adult-use cannabis from licensed dispensaries, under the same limits as residents. What a visitor cannot use is an out-of-state medical card: only registered, certified Maryland patients and caregivers can buy under the medical program, so a visiting patient shops as an adult-use customer, follows the adult-use potency caps and pays the 12 percent sales tax (MCA FAQ; Tax-General 11-104).

Stores face fines for skipping the check, and they are limited in what they keep. A licensee that sells without the required ID verification faces a civil penalty of $500 for a first violation, $1,000 for a second within 24 months and $5,000 for each later one (36-1101). A dispensary may not build a customer profile from an adult-use buyer's personal information without express permission, and may not refuse a sale because the buyer declines (COMAR 14.17.12.04). MCA's policy FAQ tells stores to turn off ID scanner settings that save data beyond a first name.

Private property, with the owner's permission, is where adult use is legal. MCA's FAQ says adults 21 and older can use cannabis in private homes and on private property, but landlords and management companies can prohibit it, and its smoke-free guidance adds that rental and homeowners association agreements may restrict it further. In public, the line the law draws is smoking: smoking cannabis in a public place is a civil offense with a fine of up to $50 for a first finding and up to $150 for a second or later one (Criminal Law 5-601).

The statute does not define public place for that offense, so MCA's guidance is the clearest map. It lists parks and playgrounds, streets and sidewalks, bars and restaurants, public transportation and indoor workplaces as places where smoking cannabis is prohibited, and its dispensary tip sheet adds parking lots. MCA's 2024 smoke-free campaign also named beaches and boardwalks, which would take in the Ocean City Boardwalk and public walkways such as Baltimore's Inner Harbor promenade. MCA warns that some outdoor places allow tobacco smoking but not cannabis smoking.

Indoors, the Clean Indoor Air Act covers cannabis as well as tobacco. It bars smoking or vaping in any indoor area open to the public, in indoor places of employment and on government-owned or government-operated mass transit, including buses, trains, taxicabs and limousines, and it defines both smoking and vaping to include cannabis and hemp (Health-General 24-501, 24-504). Private homes and private vehicles fall outside that Act (24-505), though separate rules apply in cars. Its penalties run from a written reprimand for a first violation to a civil penalty of $100 and then at least $250 (24-508).

Federal land is off limits even where state law is relaxed. MCA's FAQ says possession remains unlawful on federal land, including federal buildings, national parks and military bases. That reaches Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the C&O Canal along the Potomac, Assateague Island National Seashore south of Ocean City and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, a 29-mile highway between the two cities that the National Park Service lists as one of its units. Federal possession law applies in park areas (21 U.S.C. 844), and 36 CFR 2.35 bars possessing a controlled substance there unless it was obtained from a practitioner or is otherwise allowed by federal or state law.

Only if the property allows it, and most hotels do not allow smoking. MCA's FAQ says most hotels do not permit guests to smoke cannabis in their rooms and advises asking the reception desk about the policy. Maryland's Clean Indoor Air Act exempts guest rooms only as long as no more than 25 percent of a hotel's or motel's rooms are used for smoking (Health-General 24-505), and the Act's definitions of smoking and vaping include cannabis (24-501). A non-smoking room is smoke-free for cannabis and tobacco alike.

Common areas are public. Lobbies, hotel bars and restaurants are indoor areas open to the public, where smoking or vaping cannabis is barred (24-504), and MCA puts bars and restaurants on its list of places where smoking cannabis is prohibited. Sidewalks and parking lots outside count as public spaces in MCA's guidance too, so stepping out the front door is not a workaround. A first public smoking finding carries a fine of up to $50, and later ones up to $150 (Criminal Law 5-601).

Vacation rentals follow the owner's rules. MCA's FAQ tells guests in a vacation rental to check with the property owner about the rules for their stay and notes that landlords and management companies can prohibit cannabis use. MCA's BeCannabisSmart guide adds that rental agreements and homeowners association rules can limit cannabis smoke and vapor. Edibles avoid the smoke rules but not a house rule that bans cannabis outright, so read the listing before you book a beach house in Ocean City or a rowhouse in Baltimore.

Delivery to a hotel room is not an option. Since July 1, 2025 only micro dispensaries may deliver cannabis to adult-use customers, and they may deliver only to residences and medical facilities in their service area (COMAR 14.17.12.03, 14.17.12.08). The rules define a residence as a house, condominium, apartment or other dwelling unit in an individual's legal possession, exclude college dormitories and do not mention hotels (COMAR 14.17.01.01). Picking up at a store, at its curbside spots or at an inspected drive-through window is the dependable option.

Not yet. Maryland law creates an on-site consumption license, but MCA's policy FAQ, updated October 15, 2025, says no on-site consumption licenses have been awarded and that the agency anticipates awarding them in the next round of licensing; it gives no date for that round. The same FAQ says a business that does not sell cannabis may not allow consumption on site, outdoor smoking included, without that license. We found no list of on-site consumption establishments on MCA's website on October 16, 2026, though the law requires MCA to post one once they exist (Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 36-407).

The 2025 session pushed lounges further out. Chapter 120 of 2025 (Senate Bill 215), approved April 22, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025, repealed MCA's authority to issue up to 15 on-site consumption licenses during the second licensing round, the Department of Legislative Services' fiscal note says. MCA may still issue on-site consumption licenses in later rounds, as needed under a market demand study (36-404(h)), up to the statutory cap of 50 (36-401(d)(4)). The same law let counties and cities set lounge hours and allowed lounges to repackage and sell single-serving edibles, a category that includes cannabinoid beverages.

When lounges do open, the ground rules are already written. A lounge needs an MCA license and a local permit that expressly allows it, and a county or city may ban lounges, restrict smoking or vaping there, zone them or set their hours (36-407). Smoking indoors is never allowed; the license covers outdoor smoking, vaping and other consumption (36-401). A lounge may not admit anyone under 21, allow alcohol or tobacco, let guests bring their own cannabis or take any away, or sell anything intended as more than a single serving, and consumption may not be visible from outside (36-407).

Dispensaries are not lounges. COMAR 14.17.06.10 bars any other cannabis licensee from permitting on-site consumption on its premises or on any space it owns or controls, and MCA's dispensary tip sheet tells shoppers not to smoke, vape or consume cannabis anywhere on the premises, adding that smoking is prohibited on sidewalks and in parking lots. A bar, restaurant or rented event space that invites guests to light up is not licensed for it, and a guest who smokes in a public place still risks the civil fine (Criminal Law 5-601).

A driver may not smoke or consume cannabis in the passenger area of a motor vehicle on a highway, whether the vehicle is moving, stopped or standing there (Transportation 21-903). The passenger area is any space the driver or a passenger can reach from their seats, and the statute excludes a locked glove compartment, the trunk and, in a vehicle without a trunk, the area behind the rearmost upright seat. A violation is a misdemeanor under the Maryland Vehicle Law with a fine of up to $500 (Transportation 27-101). MCA says use by a driver or a passenger is illegal.

In rideshares, taxis and rental cars, Transportation 21-903 binds only the driver, the Clean Indoor Air Act reaches government-operated transit but exempts private vehicles, and the bar on passengers rests on MCA's statement that use by a driver or passenger is illegal. MCA's FAQ lists public transportation, including buses, vans, trains, taxicabs and limousines, among the places where smoking cannabis is prohibited, and the Clean Indoor Air Act bans smoking and vaping on government-owned or government-operated transit (Health-General 24-504). The passenger area that 21-903 refers to excludes a locked glove compartment and the trunk, though the statute regulates consumption rather than how sealed products are carried, and MCA's guide asks consumers to keep products in their original child-resistant packaging.

Driving impaired is a crime, and Maryland's drugged driving law sets no THC blood number. The Vehicle Law bars driving while so impaired by any drug that you cannot drive safely, punishable for a first offense by up to 2 months in jail, a $500 fine or both, and lawful use is no defense unless you did not know the drug would impair you (Transportation 21-902). MCA says officers can make a cannabis DUI arrest when they observe impairment through standardized field sobriety tests, and it suggests waiting six hours after use, longer after edibles, whose effects can last up to 12 hours.

The same rule applies on the Chesapeake Bay and every other Maryland water. A person may not operate a vessel while so far impaired by any drug that they cannot operate it safely; a first offense brings a fine of up to $500, up to 2 months in jail or both (Natural Resources 8-738). Coast Guard boarding officers apply a federal standard as well: an operator is under the influence when a drug's effect on manner, speech, movement or behavior is apparent by observation, and the rule's definitions cover every Schedule I to V controlled substance (33 CFR 95.010, 95.020).

Not legally. The Maryland Aviation Administration owns and operates BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and Martin State Airport, and BWI's FAQ calls it a non-smoking airport where smoking is permitted only on the outer curb center islands of the upper and lower roadways. BWI's FAQ does not mention cannabis, but the curb islands are public places: smoking cannabis in a public place is a civil offense (Criminal Law 5-601), and MCA notes that tobacco may be smoked in some outdoor places where cannabis may not. MCA's FAQ also says it is illegal to leave Maryland with any cannabis.

Federal law governs the flight. TSA's medical marijuana page, updated April 27, 2026, lists it as allowed in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions, but says its officers will refer any illegal substance found during screening to a law enforcement officer, and the TSA officer makes the final call on any item; adult-use cannabis is still Schedule I. The FAA's 2022 compliance letter, written before the April 2026 federal rescheduling of state-licensed medical marijuana, says the cultivation, storage or distribution of marijuana is prohibited on federally obligated airport property regardless of state law; it addresses airport businesses rather than passengers. Federal simple possession carries up to a year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine (21 U.S.C. 844).

Washington, D.C. is a separate jurisdiction with its own law. D.C. lets adults 21 and older possess up to 2 ounces and give away up to 1 ounce without payment, but its adult-use law authorizes no sales, so only licensed medical cannabis retailers may sell (D.C. Code 48-904.01), and consuming marijuana on a street, sidewalk or park, in a vehicle or anywhere the public is invited is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail (48-911.01). The National Mall and Memorial Parks are National Park Service land, where federal possession law applies (21 U.S.C. 844; 36 CFR 2.35). MCA says Maryland purchases must stay in Maryland.

Each neighbor sets its own rules. Virginia's Code, as published October 16, 2026, lets adults 21 and older possess up to 2 ounces in public (Va. Code 4.1-1100), and its Cannabis Control Authority says retail sales begin July 1, 2027 under House Bill 30 of 2026. Delaware allows 1 ounce, 12 grams of concentrate or 750 milligrams of THC, but public use there is a misdemeanor (16 Del. C. 4701, 4764). Pennsylvania treats 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish or less as a misdemeanor with up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine or both (35 P.S. 780-113, as of May 2025), and West Virginia treats possession as a misdemeanor with 90 days to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both, though a first offense under 15 grams must go to conditional discharge (W. Va. Code 60A-4-401, 60A-4-407).

No. MCA's FAQ says cannabis possession remains unlawful on federal land, including federal buildings, national parks and military bases, even in states that have legalized it. Federal simple possession carries up to a year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine for a first offense (21 U.S.C. 844), and 36 CFR 2.35 bars possessing a controlled substance in National Park Service units unless obtained from a practitioner or otherwise allowed by federal or state law. Maryland's protections for adults 21 and older stop at the park boundary, the base gate and the federal building door.

Many visitor stops are federal. Assateague Island National Seashore, south of Ocean City, spans Maryland and Virginia; its 2026 Superintendent's Compendium lists alcohol closures under 36 CFR 2.35 and says nothing specific about cannabis. The C&O Canal National Historical Park runs through D.C., Maryland and West Virginia; Fort McHenry is in Baltimore; Catoctin Mountain Park is near Thurmont; Antietam National Battlefield is at Sharpsburg; and Monocacy National Battlefield is at Frederick. The Baltimore-Washington Parkway, a 29-mile highway between the two cities, is also a Park Service unit, where 36 CFR 2.35 applies.

Military installations are federal property too. Fort George G. Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County are Army posts, and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis asks visitors without a Defense Department credential to park outside and walk in through Gate 1, with a REAL ID-compliant license, a U.S. passport or an enhanced driver's license for adults; non-U.S. citizens may visit only for official Academy events, escorted by a U.S. citizen with Defense Department credentials. MCA's FAQ names military bases among the federal land where possession remains unlawful, and it adds that service members get no exception from Maryland's age limit and may face other federal restrictions.

The 2026 federal rescheduling does not change this. A DEA final rule effective April 28, 2026 placed FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and marijuana subject to a state-issued medical license, in Schedule III, while any other marijuana, adult-use purchases included, stays in Schedule I. DEA's separate hearing on broader rescheduling ran from June 29 to July 15, 2026, and the Chief Administrative Law Judge stayed the case on September 29, 2026; no final rescheduling rule exists. This guide does not describe tribal land, because no tribal government or federal source on tribal land in Maryland could be read.

Yes, but only from a licensed micro dispensary and only to a residence or medical facility. Since July 1, 2025, only micro dispensaries may deliver cannabis to adult-use customers (COMAR 14.17.12.08), and they may deliver only to residences and medical facilities in their authorized service area (COMAR 14.17.12.03). MCA's Dispensary Locator, updated October 16, 2026, lists three delivery-only businesses: EMBER and Maryland Cannabis Delivery in the Central region and ShayShay Treats Delivery Service in the Southern region. A micro dispensary may not run a storefront.

The regions are fixed, and two had no delivery service on the locator date. The locator defines them: Western covers Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Carroll and Montgomery counties; Central covers Howard, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Harford and Cecil; Southern covers Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's; and Eastern covers Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester, the county that holds Ocean City. No delivery-only business was listed for the Western or Eastern region on October 16, 2026.

Each delivery follows rules a visitor will notice. The ordering system must confirm the customer is 21 or older before the order is placed, the agent must see a valid government photo ID whose name and birth date match the order before taking payment, and deliveries run only between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. (COMAR 14.17.12.03, 14.17.12.08; MCA micro dispensary guidance, July 1, 2026). A residence means a dwelling unit in an individual's legal possession and excludes dormitories (COMAR 14.17.01.01). Agents travel in unmarked vehicles and may not carry cannabis outside Maryland.

Standard dispensaries still deliver only to medical patients. Chapter 375 of 2026 (House Bill 622), effective July 1, 2026, lets converted dispensaries keep delivering medical cannabis until July 1, 2027, and MCA's dispensary guidance says those deliveries go to patients and caregivers only. COMAR 14.17.12.08, which says only micro dispensaries may deliver from July 1, 2025, has not caught up with that extension; the statute controls, and adult-use customers are unaffected. Standard stores offer pre-order pickup instead, at the counter, at curbside spots within 100 feet of an entrance or at an inspected drive-through window (COMAR 14.17.12.02).

Adults 21 and older may grow up to two cannabis plants, and no more than two may be grown at one residence however many adults live there (Criminal Law 5-601.2). Registered medical patients 21 and older may grow up to four, with a cap of four per residence when two or more such patients live together (Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 36-302). MCA's FAQ says landlords and property owners can prohibit growing on their property, and the statute bars anyone under 21 from cultivating at all.

The plants have to be hidden and secure. They may not be grown where they are subject to public view, including a view from another private property, without binoculars, aircraft or other optical aids, and the grower must take reasonable precautions, such as an enclosed, locked space, to keep them from unauthorized access and from anyone under 21 (Criminal Law 5-601.2). Cultivation may happen only on property the grower lawfully possesses or with the consent of the person who does. MCA's guide sums it up as indoors and out of public view.

Breaking those rules is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 3 years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or both (5-601.2). Starting material is sold legally: MCA's dispensary guidance says a dispensary may sell up to two clones or seedlings to any adult 21 or older, and up to four to a qualifying patient 21 or older or a registered caregiver. Home cultivation products are on the list of items adult-use customers may buy at a dispensary (COMAR 14.17.12.04).

Visitors gain little from these rules. A plant grown at a rental would need the owner's consent, and neither plants nor homegrown cannabis may leave the state; MCA says it is illegal to leave or enter Maryland with any cannabis. Homegrown cannabis is for personal use: the adult-sharing exemption covers only transfers of the personal use amount without payment (Criminal Law 5-602), and possessing cannabis in a quantity that shows intent to distribute is a misdemeanor carrying up to 3 years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or both (5-607).

Adult-use cannabis carries a 12 percent state sales and use tax. Tax-General 11-104(k) sets the cannabis rate at 9 percent for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 and 12 percent for fiscal year 2026 and each year after, which means 12 percent from July 1, 2025. MCA's dispensary guidance, updated September 4, 2026, tells dispensaries to charge 12 percent on sales to adult consumers and names no other tax at the register. For comparison, Maryland's general sales tax works out to 6 cents on each dollar (Tax-General 11-104(a)).

The increase came from the 2025 budget law. Chapter 604 of 2025, the Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (House Bill 352), approved May 20, 2025, replaced the flat 9 percent rate with 9 percent through fiscal year 2025 and 12 percent from fiscal year 2026. Some official pages lag behind: the Comptroller's Adult Use Cannabis Information page, read October 16, 2026, still says Maryland imposes a 9 percent tax. The statute and MCA's 2026 guidance set 12 percent.

There are no local cannabis taxes. A political subdivision or special taxing district may not impose a tax on cannabis (Alcoholic Beverages and Cannabis 36-405), so the rate is the same in Baltimore, Annapolis, Frederick and Ocean City. Counties and cities instead decide how to spend their share of state cannabis revenue (36-405), and Under Tax-General 2-1302.2 as amended by Chapter 604 of 2025, 25 percent of cannabis sales tax revenue goes to the General Fund, and of the other 75 percent, after MCA and Office of Social Equity costs, 35 percent goes to the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund for communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition and enforcement.

Medical cannabis is untaxed. Sales to qualifying patients and registered caregivers are exempt from the sales and use tax (COMAR 14.17.04.08), and MCA's patient guidance says patients may buy any product in the store, whatever its type or potency, tax-free. A visiting patient with another state's card cannot use that exemption, because only Maryland-registered patients and caregivers can buy under the medical program (MCA FAQ). Chapter 120 of 2025 also made clear that cannabinoid beverages do not count as food for the sales tax food exemption.

No. MCA's FAQ says only registered, certified Maryland medical cannabis patients and caregivers can buy under the medical program, while out-of-state visitors who are at least 21 with government-issued ID may buy adult-use cannabis. A visiting patient therefore shops under the adult-use rules: 21 or older, the personal use amount per day, adult-use potency caps and the 12 percent tax. A visiting patient under 21 has no way to buy, because adult-use sales require age 21 and medical sales require MCA registration (36-1101; COMAR 14.17.12.04).

Maryland's own program is broad. Patients may buy at 18 once registered, younger patients obtain cannabis through a caregiver, and a dispensary checks a patient's MCA-issued identification number and a government photo ID before each sale (36-1101, 36-302; COMAR 14.17.12.04). Since July 1, 2024 registration has been free and plastic ID cards optional at $25, MCA's patient guidance says. A patient may possess the amount in their written certification even above the personal use amount (36-302; MCA patient guidance), and a certification not used within 120 days becomes void (COMAR 14.17.12.04).

Patients get products and service lines that adult-use customers do not. Dispensaries must set aside patient-only hours or a dedicated service line (36-410), and they reserve stronger items for patients, such as concentrates over 1 gram and edibles above 10 milligrams per serving or 100 milligrams per package, MCA's patient guidance says. Medical purchases are exempt from sales tax (COMAR 14.17.04.08), and registered patients 21 and older may grow up to four plants (36-302).

Two 2026 changes touch the program. Chapter 183 of 2026, effective October 1, 2026, bars employers from disciplining fire and rescue public safety employees on the basis of a valid written certification, or a positive test while holding one, and MCA says it is building a process for such employees who live out of state to register. Separately, MCA says that while the federal government pursues rescheduling of state-licensed medical marijuana, Maryland law remains fully operative and unchanged.

Most visitor mistakes bring civil fines, not criminal records. Smoking cannabis in a public place costs up to $50 for a first finding and up to $150 after that (Criminal Law 5-601). Possessing more than the personal use amount but no more than the civil use amount, which tops out at 2.5 ounces of flower, 20 grams of concentrate or 1,250 milligrams of THC, is a civil offense with a fine of up to $250 (5-101, 5-601). Adjudication of a civil citation for possessing the personal use amount (under 21) or the civil use amount is not a criminal conviction for any purpose, and court costs are $5 (5-601.1); the public smoking fine is a separate civil offense under 5-601(c)(4).

Above the civil use amount the law turns criminal. Possessing more than the civil use amount, meaning more than 2.5 ounces of flower, more than 20 grams of concentrate or products with more than 1,250 milligrams of THC, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both (5-101, 5-601). Possessing cannabis in a quantity that reasonably indicates intent to distribute is a misdemeanor with up to 3 years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or both (5-602, 5-607), although the personal use or civil use amount alone, without other evidence, does not count as intent (5-602).

Under 21 is its own category. A person under 21 found with the personal use amount faces a civil fine of up to $100, and with the civil use amount a fine of up to $250, and a court may order a drug education program, an assessment for substance use disorder and treatment if needed (5-601). Breaking the home grow rules, by growing more than two plants, growing in public view or cultivating while under 21, is a misdemeanor with up to 3 years and a $5,000 fine (5-601.2).

Cars and unlicensed products carry their own penalties. A driver who smokes or consumes cannabis in the passenger area commits a Vehicle Law misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500 (Transportation 21-903, 27-101), and a first conviction for driving while impaired by a drug can mean up to 2 months in jail or a $500 fine (21-902). Selling a THC product above 0.5 milligrams per serving or 2.5 milligrams per package without a cannabis license is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $5,000 (36-1102), and MCA warns that such products were never state-tested.

Check the name on MCA's Dispensary Locator. The list, updated October 16, 2026, shows 129 licensed businesses, 126 storefront dispensaries and 3 delivery-only micro dispensaries, each with its address and county, and MCA's September 2026 data extract lists 128 dispensary licenses with their license numbers. Baltimore City has 11 storefronts, Baltimore County 21 and Montgomery County 22, while the extract's county sheet shows none in Garrett or Talbot counties. The locator page also links an interactive map.

Look for the Cannabis Trusted Source sign. MCA launched the signage on August 18, 2025, its investigators installed signs with QR codes at all dispensary entrances, and only MCA-licensed businesses may display the logo with the green check. Licensed stores restrict entry to adults 21 and older, patients and caregivers, display proof of licensure and sell only between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. (COMAR 14.17.12.02, 14.17.12.09). A dispensary may not sell cannabis to consumers through an unlicensed third party, intermediary or broker (COMAR 14.17.12.08).

Products in licensed stores are tested and packaged under state rules. MCA says cannabis sold by licensed dispensaries is tested for potency and for contaminants such as mold and heavy metals, comes in child-resistant packaging and, where the Trusted Source sign appears, is made by licensed Maryland processors. The locator notes that products sold in the front of licensed dispensaries are not subject to all manufacturing, testing and packaging rules; MCA's policy FAQ explains that low-THC hemp and CBD goods may be sold in that public area.

Smoke shops and gas stations are not dispensaries. Without a cannabis license, no one may sell a product meant for eating or inhaling that contains more than 0.5 milligrams of THC per serving or 2.5 milligrams per package, a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $5,000 (36-1102). Chapter 354 of 2026, effective July 1, 2026, does not cover THC: it bars retailers from selling noncompliant kratom, tianeptine and phenibut products and other consumables the Secretary of Health designates, and lets the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission seize them. MCA's guide directs reports about unlicensed THC sellers to the commission's online tips form.