Maryland lawmakers won’t vote to decriminalize syringes and other drug paraphernalia

BALTIMORE — Maryland lawmakers won’t vote this week to decriminalize paraphernalia used to inject drugs, allowing a veto from Gov. Larry Hogan to stand.

Senate President Bill Ferguson said in an interview Monday morning that he won’t bring the bill up for a vote in his chamber during a special legislative session. The drug paraphernalia decriminalization bill is among a few dozen vetoes from the Republican governor that lawmakers will consider this week.

Lawmakers have been called to Annapolis for a special session with the primary purpose of approving new boundaries for the state’s eight congressional districts, reflecting population changes recorded in the last census. But they also face decisions on all of the vetoes cast by Hogan since their last legislative session.

Ferguson said the Senate will give consideration to the issue of drug paraphernalia during the next regular General Assembly session, planned for January.

“It’s a really complex issue,” said Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat.

He added: “We really want to make sure it’s done the right way.”

Sponsors of the measure and supporters in the community had argued that people who use drugs are so afraid of getting arrested and jailed for having syringes and other drug supplies that they hide their drug use, use alone and lie to police officers about having needles on them. Those behaviors can drive the risk of overdose, supporters say.

Hogan and opponents raised concerns that decriminalizing the tools used to inject drugs would do little to curb overdoses. And they suggested drug dealers might stock up on supplies and sell or give them to users to encourage more drug use.

The measure had easily passed the House of Delegates, and leaders there said they had the votes to override Hogan’s veto and put the bill into law.

But in the state Senate, the final vote was one vote shy of what would have been needed to override the veto.

———