Josh Jackson wants to make it clear: He isn’t opposed to marijuana.

When Maryland put legalization up to a vote in 2022, the Catonsville resident supported making cannabis legal for recreational use among adults 21 and older — a ballot measure approved by more than two-thirds of state voters.

What Jackson opposes, however, is a separate decision by state lawmakers to commit $7 million toward turning a vacant Baltimore County armory into a “first-in-the-nation” state-run cannabis incubator program next to a neighborhood, an elementary school and a local day care.

“It’s an undefined experiment,” the father of two said.

The state budget signed by Gov. Wes Moore last month allocates $5 million to the Maryland Cannabis Administration and the Maryland Economic Development Corp., known as MEDCO, to develop the armory into a space housing up to 110 micro businesses that store or process marijuana into products like vapes or edibles.

The incubator program will grant social equity licenses to Black-and brown-owned businesses to address historical injustices — given that Maryland disproportionately arrested Black residents for marijuana possession when the drug was illegal.

Jackson, who started a change.org petition opposing the plan, said the Catonsville community got no say in the selection of the armory, nor have elected officials been transparent about what’s happening and when.

“At a high level it’s disappointing because I know that some of our elected officials are parents, and I’m sure most of the decision-makers involved are parents,” Jackson said. “So, the fact that we can’t seem to get an acknowledgement of our basic concerns from them … that’s frustrating.”

According to a legislative analysis, the project’s design process was supposed to begin in April, with construction starting in July.

Baltimore County Councilmember Pat Young, who represents Catonsville, said that construction timeline is inaccurate.

“The cannabis department doesn’t even own the building yet,” Young said. “The information gap about this project is immense.”

The Maryland Military Department, which owns the building and oversees the National Guard, has been divesting its armories and consolidating facilities for years. The former Pikesville armory is being converted into a community hub. It now hosts summer jazz performances on the front lawn. Towson University transformed the armory there into a coworking space.

Jackson doesn’t understand why that can’t happen in Catonsville.

A confusing timeline

In December 2023, MEDCO submitted a report to Moore and the General Assembly presenting 37 potential sites for the state’s first cannabis incubator. The list didn’t include the Catonsville Armory.

Earlier this spring, the state cannabis administration’s director, Tabatha Robinson, told state lawmakers during budget hearings that the Catonsville Armory had been selected for the incubator.

Young said he has no idea when Catonsville was picked and why: “You’ll have to ask MEDCO and the cannabis administration.”

Tom Sadowski, MEDCO’s executive director, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

An FAQ pamphlet produced by the cannabis administration explains that even though the armory wasn’t among the initial 37 sites identified by MEDCO, the former military facility “was later identified based on state ownership, existing infrastructure (commercial kitchen and secure vaults), and cost-efficiency for rapid deployment.”

“Other sites presented challenges in acquisition, remediation, or build-out costs,” the document reads. “This also reduces certain renovation needs, allowing funds to be better directed toward program development.”

Young said the cannabis administration and Maryland Department of General Services set up a meeting with him in spring 2024 to discuss their plans for the incubator.

“They weren’t asking for permission,” he said. “They were just coming to tell us what they were doing. I asked, ‘Is there an opportunity to change?’ But they were pretty damn committed.”

Young said he told representatives from both state agencies that they needed to communicate with the community about what was going on. MEDCO and cannabis administration officials coordinated with the local chamber of commerce to host a public meeting, which, he said, went poorly.

“They agreed there needed to be more education if they’re going to move forward with this,” Young said. “Next thing I hear is that they’re asking for more money in the 2026 state budget.”

Legislative stopgap

The state legislature had already committed $2 million to the incubator project in the fiscal 2025 budget when the cannabis administration’s director, Robinson, asked for $5 million more earlier this year.

Young, who previously represented Baltimore County in the House of Delegates, said he lobbied former colleagues to include language in the budget that restricted how quickly the cannabis administration could spend the $5 million.

The budget, as passed, does require the cannabis administration to submit a report to the legislature by Sept. 1 that details its community engagement efforts.

State Sen. Charles Sydnor, who represents Catonsville, said lawmakers wrote to the cannabis administration and MEDCO earlier this month asking them to submit their report sooner, by Aug. 1.

“There’s no legislator representing that community that doesn’t think that the community should have some input into this whole process,” Sydnor said. “None of us are gonna say, ‘Yeah forget the community and go forward with the project without community input.’”

Del. Aletheia McCaskill, who also represents Catonsville, called the transparency around the project lacking.

“When we are budgeting millions of taxpayer dollars, we need to be fiscally responsible and know how we’re allocating it and if at all,” she said.

The legislator added that miscommunication breeds rifts.

“I think it’s good to have the conversations, as uncomfortable as they may be,” McCaskill said. “And there have been lots of other conversations where folks say, ‘Hey, if [the armory] does not come to fruition as an incubator …’ they have a lot of suggestions of what else that site could be used for, including green space.”

‘Their voices will be heard’

Located on Mellor Avenue, the armory, a concrete and red-brick fortress, is blanketed by trees and sits across from baseball fields behind Catonsville Elementary School.

According to the cannabis administration’s pamphlet, public meetings about the project will begin this summer, but it’s unclear when.

Manny Welsh, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, has been involved with the project from the beginning. He said meetings will be held in July.

“This site location, from our perspective, is going to move forward,” he said.

Despite local legislators’ concerns, Welsh said: “The governor and General Assembly are aligned on this project.”

Sydnor said state officials should already have talked with Catonsville residents about the incubator plan.

“If I’m a citizen, I can understand [their] frustration, but again it’s a process,” Sydnor said. “They’ve been speaking out nice and loudly, and I can say their voices will be heard.”