OCEAN CITY – Officials say the legalization of recreational cannabis has had some effect on the number of weapons arrests and substance violations reported in Ocean City last month.
On Monday, Ocean City Police Chief Ross Buzzuro presented members of the Ocean City Police Commission with an update on police activity for the month of July. With the legalization of recreational cannabis taking effect July 1, Buzzuro reported the number of controlled dangerous substance (CDS) violations had decreased from 139 last year to 22 this year, while drug citations decreased from 79 to one.
“We know that is the change in the cannabis law,” he said.
Buzzuro also noted that DUI arrests had increased from 27 to 50, while weapons arrests had decreased from 67 to 24. Council President Matt James, commission member, questioned if weapons arrests correlated with drug citations.
“Weapons arrests are significantly down,” he said. “Do you think that’s because of the drug citations?”
Buzzuro said the decrease in weapons arrests could be a result of the department’s enforcement efforts. However, he said he believed it had some effect.
“I think that plays a part in it,” he said. “Optimistically speaking, there could be somewhat less because of our enforcement efforts. But we also have to factor in the change in cannabis and our ability to further search [a vehicle]. We’re not able to recover the amount of firearms and weapons we were able to prior to July 1.”
However, Capt. James Grady told commission members this week the Ocean City Police Department was working with the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office as new cannabis laws take effect.
“The state’s attorney’s office came in and did some really good training with us,” he said. “They wanted us to try and search vehicles based on the smell of CDS if all the occupants are under 21, because they aren’t allowed to legally have it. If everyone is 21 and over and we smell the odor, we can’t search the car. So they are pushing the envelope a little bit. Interestingly enough, we just had our first stop where that happened, and we got a fully loaded ghost gun out of the car.”
Councilman Frank Knight, commission member, also questioned if cannabis use had any effect on the number of DUI arrests.
“DUIs have almost doubled from last year …,” he said. “Are they intoxicated because of alcohol, or is it drugs?”
Buzzuro said the number of DUI arrests could also be the direct result of enforcement. However, he said he believed cannabis use had an impact on impaired driving.
“There’s more attention in terms of traffic enforcement, not only because we have more time to do that, but we also have to factor in that shift in terms of cannabis and DUIs …,” he replied. “I feel pretty confident in saying the change has to affect us in terms of people being impaired by cannabis and driving vehicles.”
During Monday’s presentation, Buzzuro also noted that the number of 911 hangups had increased by 503 calls, from 769 in July 2022 to 1,272 in July 2023. He said that uptick was also reflected in the total number of citizen calls for service, which had increased by 502 compared to last July.
“Now we’re over 1,000,” he said. That’s a little over 30 calls a day. So they are contributing to our numbers, they are making those numbers significantly higher.”
Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald said advances in technology could be to blame for the increasing number of 911 hangups.
“Technology has improved on the phones,” he said. “The SOS feature, people can set it, if they fall, to dial 911.”
He noted, however, that staff continue to follow up on all 911 calls that are made.
“The majority, probably, we handle internally,” he said. “But that’s technology. We have to respond to the call when we get it and follow up on it.”
