The purposes of the draft regulatory amendments are to:

1. Define medical ​and therapeutic claims;

2. Allow conditional licensees to request up to two 6-month extensions based on certain criteria;

3. Establish minimum standards for licensed growers to protect the rights of growers and employees. 

4. Codify grower corrective and preventive action (CAPA) requirements;

5. In alignment with requirements for standard dispensaries, authorizes MCA to require micro dispensaries to distribute certain point of sale materials to customers;

6. Add sublingual pouches as a new product category with associated product, packaging, and labeling requirements; 

7. Remove “plain” packaging requirement and supplement existing restrictions on youth-appealing packaging; and

8. Establish discovery procedures under COMAR 14.17.22.09.

These amendments also include other minor clarifications to correct typos or align with current policy. These changes do not alter any existing processes and are not anticipated to have any operational impact on stakeholders at this time.