1608                             Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 616

CHAPTER 616
(House Bill 1337)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 297 of
Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1971 Supplement),
title and subtitle "Crimes and Punishments," subheading "Health-
Controlled Dangerous Substances," to require that no vehicle for
hire used in the transaction of business as a vehicle for hire shall
be seized or forfeited unless it appears that the owner or other per-
son in charge of the conveyancesCONVEYANCE was a consent-
ing party or privy to a violation of the controlled dangerous sub-
stances laws and clarifying the language and numbering therein.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 297 of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1971 Supplement), title and subtitle "Crimes and Punishments,"
subheading "Health-Controlled Dangerous Substances," is hereby re-
pealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

297.

(a) The following shall be subject to forfeiture and no prop-
erty right shall exist in them:

(1)    All controlled dangerous substances which have been manu-
factured, distributed, dispensed, acquired, or possessed in violation of
the provisions of this subheading;

(2)    All raw materials, products and equipment of any kind which
are used, or intended for use, in manufacturing, compounding,
processing, delivering, importing, or exporting any controlled dan-
gerous substance in violation of the provisions of this subheading,

(3)    All property which is used, or intended for use, as a con-
tainer for property described in paragraphs (1) and (2);

(4)    All conveyances including aircraft, vehicles or vessels, which
are used, or intended for use, to transport, or in any manner to
facilitate the transportation, sale, receipt, possession, or concealment
of property described in (1) or (2), except that,

[(a)] (i) No conveyance used by any person as a common car-
rier or vehicle for hire in the transaction of business as a common
carrier or vehicle for hire shall be seized or forfeited under this sub-
heading unless it [shall appear] appears that the owner or other per-
son in charge of [such] the conveyance was a consenting party or
privy to a violation of this subheading; and

[(b)] (ii) No conveyance shall be forfeited under the pro-
visions of this section by reason of any act or omission established by
the owner thereof to have been committed or omitted by any per-
son other than such owner while such conveyance was unlawfully in
the possession of a person other than the owner in violation of the
criminal laws of the United States, or of any state;

(5)    All books, records, and research, including formulas, mi-
crofilm, tapes, and data which are used, or intended for use, in vio-
lation of this subheading;