Tell me how you really feel....
Sigh... while I don't encourage name calling, even towards politicians, these guys make it too damn hard. At least it's regarding a subject we all agree on. 
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Law Maine
- Thread starter CarolKing
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- maine mmj law
Sigh... while I don't encourage name calling, even towards politicians, these guys make it too damn hard. At least it's regarding a subject we all agree on. 
Baron23
Well-Known Member
“The Legislature needs to do the responsible thing and extend this moratorium today or as soon as we return for the new session beginning in January,” Fredette said."
The PEOPLE of Maine need to do the responsible thing and run this asshat out of office. Ok Maine, you voted for it, your polticians are thwarting it, you know what to do in the next election, Nov 6, 2018....yeah?
Maine Lawmakers Fail to Override Governor’s Cannabis Veto
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers failed Monday to override Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill to regulate and tax the sale of marijuana, dealing a setback to cannabis advocates who want to see the product in stores.
Lawmakers needed a two-thirds majority in both chambers Monday evening to override the veto and fell well short. The result means lawmakers will have to go back to the drawing board in January to craft rules governing the sale of marijuana in Maine.
RELATED STORY
Maine Gov. LePage Vetoes Cannabis Legalization at Last Minute
The result came after LePage urged lawmakers to scrap the bill and start over. He has cited concerns including how the Trump administration is going to treat the federal-state conflict in the proposal.
“We've legalized gasoline but not gas stations here.”
Rep. Martin Grohman
LePage also has said he’d need assurances from the Trump administration before establishing a new industry and regulations.
Proponents of legal marijuana, who approved a public referendum a year ago, said it’s time to put a regulatory structure in place. But lawmakers who supported the bill that LePage vetoed said they have no choice but to try a new approach.
“We’ve legalized gasoline, but not gas stations here,” said Rep. Martin Grohman, I-Biddeford, before the failed override vote. “If we don’t act and move we’re going to continue to create profits and incentives for the wrong people.”
Friday was the last day for LePage to veto bills to regulate the sale of marijuana, and he did.
The House and Senate had approved a marijuana bill in October after it was proposed by a bipartisan legislative panel. Panel members spent months rewriting the law to allow local communities to opt-in to recreational marijuana sales. Other changes included adding an excise tax to the existing 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana.
RELATED STORY
Maine Governor Proposes Pushing Back Legal Cannabis Sales Until 2019
House Republican Leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport, said Monday that passing a marijuana bill will take addressing Republican concerns about issues such as enforcement and penalties. Fredette, who voted to uphold the veto, called it “nothing we can’t solve.”
Fredette also said the Legislature needs to focus on extending the current moratorium on sales of recreational marijuana. The moratorium is set to expire on Feb. 1, and Fredette said there’s no way all of the necessary rules will be in place by then.
He has tried unsuccessfully to extend the moratorium to July 1 or Jan. 1, 2019.
“The Legislature needs to do the responsible thing and extend this moratorium today or as soon as we return for the new session beginning in January,” Fredette said.
The PEOPLE of Maine need to do the responsible thing and run this asshat out of office. Ok Maine, you voted for it, your polticians are thwarting it, you know what to do in the next election, Nov 6, 2018....yeah?
Maine Lawmakers Fail to Override Governor’s Cannabis Veto
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers failed Monday to override Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill to regulate and tax the sale of marijuana, dealing a setback to cannabis advocates who want to see the product in stores.
Lawmakers needed a two-thirds majority in both chambers Monday evening to override the veto and fell well short. The result means lawmakers will have to go back to the drawing board in January to craft rules governing the sale of marijuana in Maine.
RELATED STORY
Maine Gov. LePage Vetoes Cannabis Legalization at Last Minute
The result came after LePage urged lawmakers to scrap the bill and start over. He has cited concerns including how the Trump administration is going to treat the federal-state conflict in the proposal.
“We've legalized gasoline but not gas stations here.”
Rep. Martin Grohman
LePage also has said he’d need assurances from the Trump administration before establishing a new industry and regulations.
Proponents of legal marijuana, who approved a public referendum a year ago, said it’s time to put a regulatory structure in place. But lawmakers who supported the bill that LePage vetoed said they have no choice but to try a new approach.
“We’ve legalized gasoline, but not gas stations here,” said Rep. Martin Grohman, I-Biddeford, before the failed override vote. “If we don’t act and move we’re going to continue to create profits and incentives for the wrong people.”
Friday was the last day for LePage to veto bills to regulate the sale of marijuana, and he did.
The House and Senate had approved a marijuana bill in October after it was proposed by a bipartisan legislative panel. Panel members spent months rewriting the law to allow local communities to opt-in to recreational marijuana sales. Other changes included adding an excise tax to the existing 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana.
RELATED STORY
Maine Governor Proposes Pushing Back Legal Cannabis Sales Until 2019
House Republican Leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport, said Monday that passing a marijuana bill will take addressing Republican concerns about issues such as enforcement and penalties. Fredette, who voted to uphold the veto, called it “nothing we can’t solve.”
Fredette also said the Legislature needs to focus on extending the current moratorium on sales of recreational marijuana. The moratorium is set to expire on Feb. 1, and Fredette said there’s no way all of the necessary rules will be in place by then.
He has tried unsuccessfully to extend the moratorium to July 1 or Jan. 1, 2019.
“The Legislature needs to do the responsible thing and extend this moratorium today or as soon as we return for the new session beginning in January,” Fredette said.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
"While campaigning for re-election in 2014, LePage said that if voters approved legal marijuana he would support that decision. But he backed away from that in his veto letter, writing, “Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
Wait, you mean a politician during an election campaign lied!! Say it ain't so, Joe!
LOL All these idiots do is lie. So, its still legal in Maine just without any structure in place to license grow and sales, regulate the industry, and tax it. Rather like the complete fuck-up Fed Congress has made of DC legalization. These people are just too venal for words.
Maine voters....get rid of these assholes. Next state office elections is just one year away.
Maine House upholds LePage’s veto of recreational marijuana regulations
Defeat of the legal framework means commercial production and retail sales of adult-use marijuana in Maine are delayed indefinitely with no clear path ahead.
AUGUSTA — The Maine House voted Monday to sustain Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill that would create the legal framework for retail sales of recreational marijuana.
The bill was the result of more than nine months of work by a special committee tasked with implementing the law that voters narrowly approved last November, putting Maine among the eight states and the District of Columbia that had legalized the adult use of marijuana. The 74-62 vote Monday fell 17 votes short of the two-thirds margin required to overturn LePage’s veto.
In his veto letter, Gov. Paul LePage dismissed the marijuana regulatory bill essentially as a risky, inconsistent and expensive rush job. Staff photo by Derek Davis
Related Headlines
Search photos available for purchase: Photo Store →
The path forward for the ballot-box law remains unclear, with the current moratorium on recreational sales expiring Feb. 1. The Legislature reconvenes in January and could pass legislation then, but it’s uncertain whether the political dynamic will change enough in the next two months for an implementation law to be passed or the moratorium to be extended. If neither occurs, the ballot box law would take effect, a prospect that some lawmakers find alarming.
“I feel like we legalized gasoline, but not gas stations,” said Rep. Martin Grohman, a Biddeford independent.
Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chairman of the special legislative committee that wrote the implementation bill, is unsure what the next steps will be.
“You know, 74-62 is a good victory in a basketball game, but it’s not enough to overcome a veto,” Katz said after the House vote. “We will regroup and we will sit around and try to figure out where the heck we go from here, and I hope somebody has some bright ideas because right now I don’t have any.”
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Katz said the bill as passed by the 17-member Special Committee on Marijuana Implementation, which remains an active committee, was crafted with the state’s voters in mind.
“We recognize that almost half the people of the state of Maine voted against this,” Katz said. “So at every turn we made a conscious effort to keep this bill as conservative as possible.”
Among its provisions, the bill required those licensed to sell recreational marijuana to be Maine residents and mandated that companies set up to produce commercial marijuana have majority Maine ownership; prohibited sales via the internet or at drive-thru windows; and set up a tax structure that included money to increase the number of drug recognition officers in Maine law enforcement, an effort meant to prevent and prosecute illegal impaired driving.
By failing to pass legislation, “we are driving people to the illegal dealer on the street corner,” Katz said.
Although Maine was among the first states to pass a medical marijuana law, the drug remains illegal at the federal level, a key reason that LePage cited in vetoing the recreational regulation measure, which passed the Legislature in October with bipartisan support.
In his veto letter, LePage also said the bill sets unrealistic time lines for launching the market, fails to address shortcomings in the medical marijuana program, creates a confusing regulatory system, and might not generate enough tax revenue to cover the cost of market implementation or regulation. In short, he dismissed the bill as a risky, inconsistent, expensive rush job.
While campaigning for re-election in 2014, LePage said that if voters approved legal marijuana he would support that decision. But he backed away from that in his veto letter, writing, “Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
MORATORIUM EXTENSION FAILS
In a floor speech Monday, House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, a key LePage ally in the Legislature, said that regardless of the outcome of the override vote, it was unlikely that retail sales of recreational marijuana would have begun before the moratorium expires Feb.1. He called on lawmakers to extend the moratorium, to provide time for the administration to do the rulemaking that establishes details of retail licensing and a tax regime. Fredette suggested that the Legislature try to move on that extension Monday, but Democratic leadership rejected that proposal, deciding to allow the issue to wait until January.
“This vote today to sustain this veto is really a vote to have us maybe even work informally over the next 60 days, but really to come back in 60 days and have it positioned in here where those issues can be addressed in a timely fashion and a fairly short fashion and we can pass something that we can have a consensus on this really important issue,” Fredette said.
He also said one important issue for his caucus was extending the moratorium.
“There is no way rulemaking is going to be done in time for a Feb. 1 date,” he said.
Advertisement
But those backing the legalization bill are concerned that the lack of action is creating conditions that will allow the illegal market to take root and expand.
“I think if we don’t act and move we are going to continue to create profits and incentives for the wrong people,” said Grohman, the Biddeford independent. “The kind of profits and incentives that we very much do not want to create in these times.”
Sen. Mark Dion, D-Portland, a former Cumberland County sheriff and 2018 gubernatorial candidate, also was among those backing the legalization bill.
“The governor’s veto is the latest in a long line of setbacks, but we remain closer than ever before to enacting reasonable drug policy reforms to end the system of black-market profits and needless incarceration,” Dion said. “We will continue do our work, knowing the people of Maine are on our side. It’s only a matter of time before the voters’ will is fulfilled.”
INVESTORS MAY GO ELSEWHERE
Current law makes it legal for adults to use and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, or grow up to six plants of their own, but does not allow commercial production of marijuana or retail sales. It also repeals previous state law that prevented marijuana from being given away or used as a promotional item.
Advertisement
It is estimated that a recreational marijuana industry in Maine could generate as much a $325 million a year in revenue.
Hannah King, a member of the advisory board of directors for Maine Professionals Regulating Marijuana, said that even with a moratorium on recreational sales and commercial production, other provisions in the underlying ballot law would remain in place. King also noted the now-failed regulatory bill included provisions that required those who want to invest in Maine’s adult-use market to partner with a Maine-based firm.
She said investors are waiting for Maine to finalize its market, but without a time line for a legal framework and with a half-dozen other states – including those with much larger markets, such as Massachusetts and California – either legalizing medical marijuana or extending legalization to recreational use, those investors will not wait long before looking elsewhere.
The delay, she said, will undoubtedly cost millions of dollars in investment that simply will not happen in Maine.
“This was our chance to do our job, to protect the people of Maine and create this new industry,” Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, the House chair of the implementation committee, said in a prepared statement that followed the vote. “I’m deeply disappointed that this legislation, which was written after six months of work by Democratic, Republican and independent lawmakers, was successfully derailed by a small group of people.”
Pierce urged voters to let their lawmakers know how the felt about the issue before the Legislature returns in January.
Wait, you mean a politician during an election campaign lied!! Say it ain't so, Joe!
LOL All these idiots do is lie. So, its still legal in Maine just without any structure in place to license grow and sales, regulate the industry, and tax it. Rather like the complete fuck-up Fed Congress has made of DC legalization. These people are just too venal for words. Maine voters....get rid of these assholes. Next state office elections is just one year away.
Maine House upholds LePage’s veto of recreational marijuana regulations
Defeat of the legal framework means commercial production and retail sales of adult-use marijuana in Maine are delayed indefinitely with no clear path ahead.
AUGUSTA — The Maine House voted Monday to sustain Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill that would create the legal framework for retail sales of recreational marijuana.
The bill was the result of more than nine months of work by a special committee tasked with implementing the law that voters narrowly approved last November, putting Maine among the eight states and the District of Columbia that had legalized the adult use of marijuana. The 74-62 vote Monday fell 17 votes short of the two-thirds margin required to overturn LePage’s veto.
In his veto letter, Gov. Paul LePage dismissed the marijuana regulatory bill essentially as a risky, inconsistent and expensive rush job. Staff photo by Derek Davis
Related Headlines
- LePage just says no to bill that would launch Maine’s marijuana market
- Want news about Maine’s marijuana industry? Subscribe to the Maine Cannabis Report
Search photos available for purchase: Photo Store →
The path forward for the ballot-box law remains unclear, with the current moratorium on recreational sales expiring Feb. 1. The Legislature reconvenes in January and could pass legislation then, but it’s uncertain whether the political dynamic will change enough in the next two months for an implementation law to be passed or the moratorium to be extended. If neither occurs, the ballot box law would take effect, a prospect that some lawmakers find alarming.
“I feel like we legalized gasoline, but not gas stations,” said Rep. Martin Grohman, a Biddeford independent.
Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chairman of the special legislative committee that wrote the implementation bill, is unsure what the next steps will be.
“You know, 74-62 is a good victory in a basketball game, but it’s not enough to overcome a veto,” Katz said after the House vote. “We will regroup and we will sit around and try to figure out where the heck we go from here, and I hope somebody has some bright ideas because right now I don’t have any.”
Advertisement
Katz said the bill as passed by the 17-member Special Committee on Marijuana Implementation, which remains an active committee, was crafted with the state’s voters in mind.
“We recognize that almost half the people of the state of Maine voted against this,” Katz said. “So at every turn we made a conscious effort to keep this bill as conservative as possible.”
Among its provisions, the bill required those licensed to sell recreational marijuana to be Maine residents and mandated that companies set up to produce commercial marijuana have majority Maine ownership; prohibited sales via the internet or at drive-thru windows; and set up a tax structure that included money to increase the number of drug recognition officers in Maine law enforcement, an effort meant to prevent and prosecute illegal impaired driving.
By failing to pass legislation, “we are driving people to the illegal dealer on the street corner,” Katz said.
Although Maine was among the first states to pass a medical marijuana law, the drug remains illegal at the federal level, a key reason that LePage cited in vetoing the recreational regulation measure, which passed the Legislature in October with bipartisan support.
In his veto letter, LePage also said the bill sets unrealistic time lines for launching the market, fails to address shortcomings in the medical marijuana program, creates a confusing regulatory system, and might not generate enough tax revenue to cover the cost of market implementation or regulation. In short, he dismissed the bill as a risky, inconsistent, expensive rush job.
While campaigning for re-election in 2014, LePage said that if voters approved legal marijuana he would support that decision. But he backed away from that in his veto letter, writing, “Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
MORATORIUM EXTENSION FAILS
In a floor speech Monday, House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, a key LePage ally in the Legislature, said that regardless of the outcome of the override vote, it was unlikely that retail sales of recreational marijuana would have begun before the moratorium expires Feb.1. He called on lawmakers to extend the moratorium, to provide time for the administration to do the rulemaking that establishes details of retail licensing and a tax regime. Fredette suggested that the Legislature try to move on that extension Monday, but Democratic leadership rejected that proposal, deciding to allow the issue to wait until January.
“This vote today to sustain this veto is really a vote to have us maybe even work informally over the next 60 days, but really to come back in 60 days and have it positioned in here where those issues can be addressed in a timely fashion and a fairly short fashion and we can pass something that we can have a consensus on this really important issue,” Fredette said.
He also said one important issue for his caucus was extending the moratorium.
“There is no way rulemaking is going to be done in time for a Feb. 1 date,” he said.
Advertisement
But those backing the legalization bill are concerned that the lack of action is creating conditions that will allow the illegal market to take root and expand.
“I think if we don’t act and move we are going to continue to create profits and incentives for the wrong people,” said Grohman, the Biddeford independent. “The kind of profits and incentives that we very much do not want to create in these times.”
Sen. Mark Dion, D-Portland, a former Cumberland County sheriff and 2018 gubernatorial candidate, also was among those backing the legalization bill.
“The governor’s veto is the latest in a long line of setbacks, but we remain closer than ever before to enacting reasonable drug policy reforms to end the system of black-market profits and needless incarceration,” Dion said. “We will continue do our work, knowing the people of Maine are on our side. It’s only a matter of time before the voters’ will is fulfilled.”
INVESTORS MAY GO ELSEWHERE
Current law makes it legal for adults to use and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, or grow up to six plants of their own, but does not allow commercial production of marijuana or retail sales. It also repeals previous state law that prevented marijuana from being given away or used as a promotional item.
Advertisement
It is estimated that a recreational marijuana industry in Maine could generate as much a $325 million a year in revenue.
Hannah King, a member of the advisory board of directors for Maine Professionals Regulating Marijuana, said that even with a moratorium on recreational sales and commercial production, other provisions in the underlying ballot law would remain in place. King also noted the now-failed regulatory bill included provisions that required those who want to invest in Maine’s adult-use market to partner with a Maine-based firm.
She said investors are waiting for Maine to finalize its market, but without a time line for a legal framework and with a half-dozen other states – including those with much larger markets, such as Massachusetts and California – either legalizing medical marijuana or extending legalization to recreational use, those investors will not wait long before looking elsewhere.
The delay, she said, will undoubtedly cost millions of dollars in investment that simply will not happen in Maine.
“This was our chance to do our job, to protect the people of Maine and create this new industry,” Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, the House chair of the implementation committee, said in a prepared statement that followed the vote. “I’m deeply disappointed that this legislation, which was written after six months of work by Democratic, Republican and independent lawmakers, was successfully derailed by a small group of people.”
Pierce urged voters to let their lawmakers know how the felt about the issue before the Legislature returns in January.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
As LePage screws around, people in Maine will buy on the black market or smuggle from nearby legal states.
Why The Pot Veto In Maine Causes More Problems Than It Solves
Governor LePage completely dropped the ball.
At the last possible moment on Friday, November 3, Maine’s Governor Paul LePage vetoed the state’s adult use cannabis bill. Lawmakers had been working on the bill—which would have taxed and regulated the recreational cannabis market in the state—for the past nine months.
On Monday, the Maine House sustained LePage’s veto, and so it’s back to square one for Maine’s regulated adult use market.
LePage wrote a public letter explaining his decision to veto the bill, citing the federal government’s position as one of his main reasons.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine,” LePage wrote.
A poor excuse by the Republican governor who promised not to interfere with voters’ decisions on the matter during his 2014 campaign for reelection. The people of Maine have already spoken and voted, back in November 2016, for “Question 1” to tax and regulate the sale of adult-use cannabis.
“He also cited multiple other issues he has with the bill, which is upsetting given that he and his administration had every opportunity (over about seven months) to have a hand in creating this bill, and they chose not to,” said Amanda Melnick, president and owner of Maine Cannabis Consultants. “The Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee worked very openly and would have welcomed conversation or guidance from his administration.”
So what is legal at the moment?
Maine has had medical use cannabis for over 15 years, with more than 45,000 registered medical patients and a state minimum of eight dispensaries. According to Melnick, it’s one of the best medical markets in the country.
The state referendum, Question 1, passed last November, makes it legal for adults 21 and older to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow up to six personal use plants. However, because of the veto and a bill introduced last January, LD 88, recreational cultivation, sales and production in Maine have been postponed until February 2018.
This has created an unregulated “grey” market for non-medical patients, where “gifting” weed (where the weed is free but the delivery fee is $100) is popular.
“[The grey market] is a blatant problem created by holding up the adult-use regulations and rule-making,” said Melnick. “The people of Maine passed a referendum to legalize cannabis and to create a market for that legal product. Currently, we only have the first half of that in place: you can possess cannabis but can’t legally buy it. So there’s bound to be people who will take advantage of these inconsistencies, and thus the creation of this grey market.”
A grey market isn’t unique to Maine; it’s also the main system for buying adult-use cannabis in our country’s capital, Washington, D.C., but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk.
Without government regulation, there’s no telling what’s in the cannabis people are consuming or where it came from. In states with a regulated market, cannabis is tested for pesticides, mold and other pests to ensure it’s fit for human consumption. Without government regulations, it’s possible growers will use whatever means necessary to produce the highest yield, but that often means lack of quality control.
“I think pesticides are an issue regardless of whether it’s regulated or not,” said a Maine-licensed caregiver and cultivator who goes by the name Meowy.“It’s more about how well it’s enforced. But, in the end, there will typically be producers who try to cut corners and get away with things they shouldn’t.”
What’s more, people are then turning this “dirty” weed into extracts like oil and shatter, which essentially concentrates the chemicals as well. In 2016, 25 percent of Emerald Cup extract contestants had to be disqualified for contaminants.
On top of possibly smoking, vaping or eating pesticides and bug feces, unregulated cannabis has no traceability system. In regulated markets, every cannabis plant is tagged with a unique barcode as a clone and is tracked for its entire lifespan, until it’s sold to a customer, in systems known as “seed-to-sale.”
Seed-to-sale programs ensure no cannabis is stolen, lost or sold to a minor without the authorities being notified.
But obviously, in an unregulated market, cannabis can come from anywhere and be sold to anyone. Meaning, weed could come from organized crime and could get into the hands of teenagers. Obviously, this is something we want to avoid, especially considering how we’ve seen teen drug use go down in regulated states, like Colorado and Washington, and we’ve seen legal weed hurt Mexican cartels.
But unregulated cannabis doesn’t necessarily come from cartels.
Illegal grows in the United States supply much of our black market pot, which, according to the Motley Fool, is a $100 billion industry. However, black market practices in America can be dangerous.
For example, illegal growers are not only more likely to use pesticides but are more likely to use dangerous and environmentally hazardous practices to avoid arousing suspicion. Around the country, there have been cases of growers rewiring the power lines used in their indoor gardens to avoid the meter, but this has also caused fires, electrocution and death.
Illegal grows are also worse for the environment. They are more likely to run their electricity on backup gas generators, which release more carbon emissions into the atmosphere and are a fire hazard. Plus, run-off from illegal grows is polluting natural water sources and killing wildlife.
Unregulated cannabis markets also give rise to unlicensed extraction labs for making cannabis concentrates like butane hash oil (BHO), which is used for dabbing. But making BHO requires the use of volatile solvents, like butane, which is very dangerous and likely to explode. There have been many sad cases of people losing their homes and even their lives from butane gas explosions.
In most regulated states, these extraction labs require their own unique license.
A grey market in Maine promotes these unsafe practices in a state where the people have already voted to tax and regulate the plant. Not only will Maine not be receiving the tax and tourism revenue from a regulated, adult use market, but it’s also putting people at risk. Not to mention, grey markets promote unsafe buying environments for non-medical patients.
“I think the greatest danger the black market presents is that it prevents the cannabis industry from progressing past its stigmatized, criminally-associated past,” said Meowy. “In other words, until we can normalize and properly regulate cannabis, the professional producers with integrity can’t drive out the less reputable individuals through natural competition.”
However, there are some activists who supported LePage’s veto, like Paul T. McCarrier, founder of the group Legalize Maine and co-author of Question 1.
One of the main problems McCarrier had with the bill was the “opt-in” clause, which would have essentially required each municipality in Maine to vote for adult use cannabis again. It was the first measure of its kind in the country; other states like Nevada and Colorado, only give their cities the right to “opt-out” of the adult use cannabis market, if the voters and City Council members see fit.
Now it’s back to the drawing board in Maine, and many think they might not see legal cannabis until 2019. Massachusetts is planning to have adult-use available by July 2018, the same time as the entire nation of Canada, Maine’s neighbor.
Hopefully, Maine lawmakers will eventually honor the decision of the people. But at this rate, Maine could be the last of the five states that voted last November to legalize adult use cannabis to enact a regulated market.
Why The Pot Veto In Maine Causes More Problems Than It Solves
Governor LePage completely dropped the ball.
At the last possible moment on Friday, November 3, Maine’s Governor Paul LePage vetoed the state’s adult use cannabis bill. Lawmakers had been working on the bill—which would have taxed and regulated the recreational cannabis market in the state—for the past nine months.
On Monday, the Maine House sustained LePage’s veto, and so it’s back to square one for Maine’s regulated adult use market.
LePage wrote a public letter explaining his decision to veto the bill, citing the federal government’s position as one of his main reasons.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine,” LePage wrote.
A poor excuse by the Republican governor who promised not to interfere with voters’ decisions on the matter during his 2014 campaign for reelection. The people of Maine have already spoken and voted, back in November 2016, for “Question 1” to tax and regulate the sale of adult-use cannabis.
“He also cited multiple other issues he has with the bill, which is upsetting given that he and his administration had every opportunity (over about seven months) to have a hand in creating this bill, and they chose not to,” said Amanda Melnick, president and owner of Maine Cannabis Consultants. “The Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee worked very openly and would have welcomed conversation or guidance from his administration.”
So what is legal at the moment?
Maine has had medical use cannabis for over 15 years, with more than 45,000 registered medical patients and a state minimum of eight dispensaries. According to Melnick, it’s one of the best medical markets in the country.
The state referendum, Question 1, passed last November, makes it legal for adults 21 and older to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis and grow up to six personal use plants. However, because of the veto and a bill introduced last January, LD 88, recreational cultivation, sales and production in Maine have been postponed until February 2018.
This has created an unregulated “grey” market for non-medical patients, where “gifting” weed (where the weed is free but the delivery fee is $100) is popular.
“[The grey market] is a blatant problem created by holding up the adult-use regulations and rule-making,” said Melnick. “The people of Maine passed a referendum to legalize cannabis and to create a market for that legal product. Currently, we only have the first half of that in place: you can possess cannabis but can’t legally buy it. So there’s bound to be people who will take advantage of these inconsistencies, and thus the creation of this grey market.”
A grey market isn’t unique to Maine; it’s also the main system for buying adult-use cannabis in our country’s capital, Washington, D.C., but that doesn’t mean it’s without risk.
Without government regulation, there’s no telling what’s in the cannabis people are consuming or where it came from. In states with a regulated market, cannabis is tested for pesticides, mold and other pests to ensure it’s fit for human consumption. Without government regulations, it’s possible growers will use whatever means necessary to produce the highest yield, but that often means lack of quality control.
“I think pesticides are an issue regardless of whether it’s regulated or not,” said a Maine-licensed caregiver and cultivator who goes by the name Meowy.“It’s more about how well it’s enforced. But, in the end, there will typically be producers who try to cut corners and get away with things they shouldn’t.”
What’s more, people are then turning this “dirty” weed into extracts like oil and shatter, which essentially concentrates the chemicals as well. In 2016, 25 percent of Emerald Cup extract contestants had to be disqualified for contaminants.
On top of possibly smoking, vaping or eating pesticides and bug feces, unregulated cannabis has no traceability system. In regulated markets, every cannabis plant is tagged with a unique barcode as a clone and is tracked for its entire lifespan, until it’s sold to a customer, in systems known as “seed-to-sale.”
Seed-to-sale programs ensure no cannabis is stolen, lost or sold to a minor without the authorities being notified.
But obviously, in an unregulated market, cannabis can come from anywhere and be sold to anyone. Meaning, weed could come from organized crime and could get into the hands of teenagers. Obviously, this is something we want to avoid, especially considering how we’ve seen teen drug use go down in regulated states, like Colorado and Washington, and we’ve seen legal weed hurt Mexican cartels.
But unregulated cannabis doesn’t necessarily come from cartels.
Illegal grows in the United States supply much of our black market pot, which, according to the Motley Fool, is a $100 billion industry. However, black market practices in America can be dangerous.
For example, illegal growers are not only more likely to use pesticides but are more likely to use dangerous and environmentally hazardous practices to avoid arousing suspicion. Around the country, there have been cases of growers rewiring the power lines used in their indoor gardens to avoid the meter, but this has also caused fires, electrocution and death.
Illegal grows are also worse for the environment. They are more likely to run their electricity on backup gas generators, which release more carbon emissions into the atmosphere and are a fire hazard. Plus, run-off from illegal grows is polluting natural water sources and killing wildlife.
Unregulated cannabis markets also give rise to unlicensed extraction labs for making cannabis concentrates like butane hash oil (BHO), which is used for dabbing. But making BHO requires the use of volatile solvents, like butane, which is very dangerous and likely to explode. There have been many sad cases of people losing their homes and even their lives from butane gas explosions.
In most regulated states, these extraction labs require their own unique license.
A grey market in Maine promotes these unsafe practices in a state where the people have already voted to tax and regulate the plant. Not only will Maine not be receiving the tax and tourism revenue from a regulated, adult use market, but it’s also putting people at risk. Not to mention, grey markets promote unsafe buying environments for non-medical patients.
“I think the greatest danger the black market presents is that it prevents the cannabis industry from progressing past its stigmatized, criminally-associated past,” said Meowy. “In other words, until we can normalize and properly regulate cannabis, the professional producers with integrity can’t drive out the less reputable individuals through natural competition.”
However, there are some activists who supported LePage’s veto, like Paul T. McCarrier, founder of the group Legalize Maine and co-author of Question 1.
One of the main problems McCarrier had with the bill was the “opt-in” clause, which would have essentially required each municipality in Maine to vote for adult use cannabis again. It was the first measure of its kind in the country; other states like Nevada and Colorado, only give their cities the right to “opt-out” of the adult use cannabis market, if the voters and City Council members see fit.
Now it’s back to the drawing board in Maine, and many think they might not see legal cannabis until 2019. Massachusetts is planning to have adult-use available by July 2018, the same time as the entire nation of Canada, Maine’s neighbor.
Hopefully, Maine lawmakers will eventually honor the decision of the people. But at this rate, Maine could be the last of the five states that voted last November to legalize adult use cannabis to enact a regulated market.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
WTF is going on up in Maine?
Maine: Medical marijuana caregivers are hit with a flurry of new state rules
Maine is cracking down on how caregivers grow and distribute medical marijuana, allowing surprise inspections and implementing a plant-to-patient tracking system.
The state Department of Health and Human Services issued new rules Wednesday that tighten Maine’s fast-growing and changing medical marijuana program. The department didn’t issue a statement on the rules, which take effect Feb. 1, and Maine’s medical marijuana community spent the day scanning the document trying to figure out which changes represent a new state policy and which ones are simply legislative housekeeping. The department didn’t reply to a request for comment.
The Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, a state-based trade group, is reviewing the new rules, and plans to hold an educational forum for members to talk about their impact on Nov. 18, said Catherine Lewis, the chairwoman of the group’s board and a consultant who works with new caregivers trying to break into the Maine market. The group’s Facebook page was buzzing Wednesday, but mostly with questions about what the new rules say.
Currently, eight state-licensed dispensaries and at least 3,200 caregivers serve more than 50,000 patients with a qualifying medical condition, such as cancer, PTSD, or intractable pain. That is a 36 percent year-over-year jump in patient certifications, and a 44 percent jump in caregivers.
The rules require caregivers to submit to unannounced inspections by a Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention inspector or a contracted worker like a former law enforcement agent, even if they are growing or processing the marijuana in their own homes, said Matt Dubois, a Bangor area lawyer who represents a wide range of cannabis businesses. Refusal to grant immediate entry can result in license suspension, civil fines or even arrest, he said.
“This is a really big change in the way the state handles caregiver compliance,” Dubois said. “It is a big invasion of privacy for the small caregivers growing in their home. It means that they have to be ready to open their door, at any time of the day or night, because they are growing medicine for sick people. That can make every knock at the door feel very intimidating, make them feel like criminals when they’re not.”
Under current rules, the state will inspect caregivers if they receive a complaint, but the caregivers can refuse immediate entry without penalty and reschedule it to a time when they can have an attorney with them, Dubois said. The new rules explicitly state routine inspections also will occur, which would mark a change in DHHS’ practice, said Dubois.
The new rules also require patients to submit to inspections, although the state will give them a day’s notice before entering their home, Dubois said.
Caregivers also would be required to document the transport of marijuana between their grow sites and the place where they dispense the medicine to a patient, whether the transaction site is the caregiver’s shop or a patient’s private home, Dubois said. Currently, the state only requires dispensaries, which handle a high volume of marijuana, to fill out these so-called trip tickets.
TRACKING SALES
On the recreational marijuana front, lawmakers who spent almost a year writing a regulatory bill that just fell to a gubernatorial veto looked at safeguards such as the trip ticket as a way to tamp down on the diversion of excess marijuana cultivated in the legal market into the black market in nearby states where marijuana remains illegal. That may be what DHHS was trying to do with this new rule, Dubois acknowledged.
The trip tickets require caregivers to document every individual delivery transaction, including the identification number of the patient who will be receiving the marijuana, the amount and kind of marijuana being delivered, and when and where it is being delivered, Dubois said. He said the trip tickets will increase the cost of delivery, and put caregivers at risk of accidental noncompliance.
“It will discourage caregivers from traveling,” Dubois said. “That will put medicine out of reach for some low-income or disabled patients, or those who live in rural areas.”
He said it also will make life more difficult for caregivers who are renting out shops to make the most of the short-term patient market. In some circles, that is called cycling – taking on a patient for a single retail transaction, sometimes serving as their caregiver for as little as 15 minutes, and then taking on a new patient as soon as the first patient’s transaction is done. This gets around the five-patient limit under current law.
A TRIP-TICKET DILEMMA
A caregiver who operates a downtown storefront would not know who might walk in their shop that day to become a short-term patient, making it impossible to fill out the trip ticket – with patient identification number included – that would be required to transport marijuana from their grow facility to the storefront. Instead, it would require the caregiver to have the new patient’s fully documented marijuana delivered from the grow house.
Cycling is not illegal, but critics say it violates the spirit of the medical marijuana law. Cycling allows some caregivers to serve hundreds of patients in a year, and creates the kind of customer turnover that can pay for downtown shops now sprinkled from Sanford to Hallowell to Ellsworth. Such high-profile activity has prompted some towns to cry foul and look to find ways to prohibit retail caregiver operations, demand business license fees, or exile them to industrial parks.
Trip tickets were not included in the department’s initial proposed rules, which were introduced in the spring and the subject of a June public hearing. As a result, no one complained about them. Dubois believes the addition of this new burden in the final rules could open the department up to judicial review, which is the only avenue left to possibly overturn the new requirements.
PHONE CERTIFICATION SCRUBBED
Under the new rules, patients who live in far-flung parts of Maine will have to undergo an in-person physical examination with a medical provider to obtain medical marijuana certification, Dubois said. In the past, medical providers have been able to approve certification over the phone, or by Skype. This deals a blow to rural patients, especially those living on Maine’s islands, he said.
The rules include other, smaller changes, such as allowing DHHS to review a caregiver’s tax records to make sure they are in compliance with state sales tax rules, and requiring caregivers to supply the state with more records, including a yearly tally of their total patient count and the start and end time for each patient designation. This patient count and length of patient relationship is another way Dubois thinks the state is trying to discourage but not outright ban cycling.
Currently, eight state-licensed dispensaries and at least 3,200 caregivers serve more than 50,000 patients with a qualifying medical condition, such as cancer, PTSD, or intractable pain. That is a 36 percent year-over-year jump in patient certifications, and a 44 percent jump in caregivers.
Maine: Medical marijuana caregivers are hit with a flurry of new state rules
Maine is cracking down on how caregivers grow and distribute medical marijuana, allowing surprise inspections and implementing a plant-to-patient tracking system.
The state Department of Health and Human Services issued new rules Wednesday that tighten Maine’s fast-growing and changing medical marijuana program. The department didn’t issue a statement on the rules, which take effect Feb. 1, and Maine’s medical marijuana community spent the day scanning the document trying to figure out which changes represent a new state policy and which ones are simply legislative housekeeping. The department didn’t reply to a request for comment.
The Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, a state-based trade group, is reviewing the new rules, and plans to hold an educational forum for members to talk about their impact on Nov. 18, said Catherine Lewis, the chairwoman of the group’s board and a consultant who works with new caregivers trying to break into the Maine market. The group’s Facebook page was buzzing Wednesday, but mostly with questions about what the new rules say.
Currently, eight state-licensed dispensaries and at least 3,200 caregivers serve more than 50,000 patients with a qualifying medical condition, such as cancer, PTSD, or intractable pain. That is a 36 percent year-over-year jump in patient certifications, and a 44 percent jump in caregivers.
The rules require caregivers to submit to unannounced inspections by a Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention inspector or a contracted worker like a former law enforcement agent, even if they are growing or processing the marijuana in their own homes, said Matt Dubois, a Bangor area lawyer who represents a wide range of cannabis businesses. Refusal to grant immediate entry can result in license suspension, civil fines or even arrest, he said.
“This is a really big change in the way the state handles caregiver compliance,” Dubois said. “It is a big invasion of privacy for the small caregivers growing in their home. It means that they have to be ready to open their door, at any time of the day or night, because they are growing medicine for sick people. That can make every knock at the door feel very intimidating, make them feel like criminals when they’re not.”
Under current rules, the state will inspect caregivers if they receive a complaint, but the caregivers can refuse immediate entry without penalty and reschedule it to a time when they can have an attorney with them, Dubois said. The new rules explicitly state routine inspections also will occur, which would mark a change in DHHS’ practice, said Dubois.
The new rules also require patients to submit to inspections, although the state will give them a day’s notice before entering their home, Dubois said.
Caregivers also would be required to document the transport of marijuana between their grow sites and the place where they dispense the medicine to a patient, whether the transaction site is the caregiver’s shop or a patient’s private home, Dubois said. Currently, the state only requires dispensaries, which handle a high volume of marijuana, to fill out these so-called trip tickets.
TRACKING SALES
On the recreational marijuana front, lawmakers who spent almost a year writing a regulatory bill that just fell to a gubernatorial veto looked at safeguards such as the trip ticket as a way to tamp down on the diversion of excess marijuana cultivated in the legal market into the black market in nearby states where marijuana remains illegal. That may be what DHHS was trying to do with this new rule, Dubois acknowledged.
The trip tickets require caregivers to document every individual delivery transaction, including the identification number of the patient who will be receiving the marijuana, the amount and kind of marijuana being delivered, and when and where it is being delivered, Dubois said. He said the trip tickets will increase the cost of delivery, and put caregivers at risk of accidental noncompliance.
“It will discourage caregivers from traveling,” Dubois said. “That will put medicine out of reach for some low-income or disabled patients, or those who live in rural areas.”
He said it also will make life more difficult for caregivers who are renting out shops to make the most of the short-term patient market. In some circles, that is called cycling – taking on a patient for a single retail transaction, sometimes serving as their caregiver for as little as 15 minutes, and then taking on a new patient as soon as the first patient’s transaction is done. This gets around the five-patient limit under current law.
A TRIP-TICKET DILEMMA
A caregiver who operates a downtown storefront would not know who might walk in their shop that day to become a short-term patient, making it impossible to fill out the trip ticket – with patient identification number included – that would be required to transport marijuana from their grow facility to the storefront. Instead, it would require the caregiver to have the new patient’s fully documented marijuana delivered from the grow house.
Cycling is not illegal, but critics say it violates the spirit of the medical marijuana law. Cycling allows some caregivers to serve hundreds of patients in a year, and creates the kind of customer turnover that can pay for downtown shops now sprinkled from Sanford to Hallowell to Ellsworth. Such high-profile activity has prompted some towns to cry foul and look to find ways to prohibit retail caregiver operations, demand business license fees, or exile them to industrial parks.
Trip tickets were not included in the department’s initial proposed rules, which were introduced in the spring and the subject of a June public hearing. As a result, no one complained about them. Dubois believes the addition of this new burden in the final rules could open the department up to judicial review, which is the only avenue left to possibly overturn the new requirements.
PHONE CERTIFICATION SCRUBBED
Under the new rules, patients who live in far-flung parts of Maine will have to undergo an in-person physical examination with a medical provider to obtain medical marijuana certification, Dubois said. In the past, medical providers have been able to approve certification over the phone, or by Skype. This deals a blow to rural patients, especially those living on Maine’s islands, he said.
The rules include other, smaller changes, such as allowing DHHS to review a caregiver’s tax records to make sure they are in compliance with state sales tax rules, and requiring caregivers to supply the state with more records, including a yearly tally of their total patient count and the start and end time for each patient designation. This patient count and length of patient relationship is another way Dubois thinks the state is trying to discourage but not outright ban cycling.
Currently, eight state-licensed dispensaries and at least 3,200 caregivers serve more than 50,000 patients with a qualifying medical condition, such as cancer, PTSD, or intractable pain. That is a 36 percent year-over-year jump in patient certifications, and a 44 percent jump in caregivers.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
MA citizens...this was your referendum. These are your elected representatives thwarting your will as expressed in that referendum. So, do something about these guys at the next election because they are f'ing it up. Especially, LePage.
Maine Lawmakers Face Big Cannabis Decisions
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers are preparing for a 2018 session where marijuana legalization is a topic expected to take center stage.
The sale of recreational marijuana is set to become legal Feb. 1, even though lawmakers failed this year to put a licensing and regulatory structure in place.
“Marijuana is legal to have but it's not legal to sell, so therefore there is only a black market.”
Rep. Drew Gattine
Next year will be Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s last full year in office, and he is continuing to chastise lawmakers for his biggest pet peeve: fiscal irresponsibility and laziness. He’s threatened to not implement Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana sales unless lawmakers fulfill his conditions.
The session begins in January.
RELATED STORY
Maine Gov. LePage Vetoes Cannabis Legalization at Last Minute
Marijuana Sales
The sale of recreational marijuana is technically set to become legal Feb. 1, even though there’s no way to obtain the needed license because lawmakers failed this year to put a regulatory structure in place. That means lawmakers face trying once again to overhaul the 2016 voter-approved law legalizing recreational marijuana.
“We’re sort of in this world where we’re operating where marijuana is legal to have but it’s not legal to sell, so therefore there is only a black market,” said Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine.
The legislative committee that worked for months on an unsuccessful marijuana overhaul will try to get a compromise bill passed quickly, according to Democratic Rep. Teresa Pierce.
RELATED STORY
Maine Lawmakers Fail to Override Governor’s Cannabis Veto
House Republican Leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette has said the Legislature needs to focus on extending the current moratorium on sales of recreational marijuana. Pierce said it’ll all depend on how fast lawmakers could pass a compromise.
LePage has said he’d need assurances from the Trump administration before establishing a new industry and regulations.
The governor predicts marijuana users will gravitate to medical marijuana instead of a recreational market.
“If you don’t fix the loopholes, there’s going to be no such thing as recreational marijuana — it’s going to be all medical marijuana,” LePage told The Associated Press.
Maine Lawmakers Face Big Cannabis Decisions
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers are preparing for a 2018 session where marijuana legalization is a topic expected to take center stage.
The sale of recreational marijuana is set to become legal Feb. 1, even though lawmakers failed this year to put a licensing and regulatory structure in place.
“Marijuana is legal to have but it's not legal to sell, so therefore there is only a black market.”
Rep. Drew Gattine
Next year will be Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s last full year in office, and he is continuing to chastise lawmakers for his biggest pet peeve: fiscal irresponsibility and laziness. He’s threatened to not implement Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana sales unless lawmakers fulfill his conditions.
The session begins in January.
RELATED STORY
Maine Gov. LePage Vetoes Cannabis Legalization at Last Minute
Marijuana Sales
The sale of recreational marijuana is technically set to become legal Feb. 1, even though there’s no way to obtain the needed license because lawmakers failed this year to put a regulatory structure in place. That means lawmakers face trying once again to overhaul the 2016 voter-approved law legalizing recreational marijuana.
“We’re sort of in this world where we’re operating where marijuana is legal to have but it’s not legal to sell, so therefore there is only a black market,” said Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine.
The legislative committee that worked for months on an unsuccessful marijuana overhaul will try to get a compromise bill passed quickly, according to Democratic Rep. Teresa Pierce.
RELATED STORY
Maine Lawmakers Fail to Override Governor’s Cannabis Veto
House Republican Leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette has said the Legislature needs to focus on extending the current moratorium on sales of recreational marijuana. Pierce said it’ll all depend on how fast lawmakers could pass a compromise.
LePage has said he’d need assurances from the Trump administration before establishing a new industry and regulations.
The governor predicts marijuana users will gravitate to medical marijuana instead of a recreational market.
“If you don’t fix the loopholes, there’s going to be no such thing as recreational marijuana — it’s going to be all medical marijuana,” LePage told The Associated Press.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
“Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly,” said state Governor Paul LePage in a warning to voters against approving a marijuana legalization measure. “We do not need to legalize another drug that could lead to more deaths.”
Who give a fuck what he thinks...he's one citizen with one vote. No more, no less. Meanwhile, the voters of Maine have spoken and they do NOT agree with LePage.
"state lawmakers are expressing hope that they could still pass a marijuana bill with LePage’s blessing."
His "blessing". Screw his blessing....Maine, you need to deep six this self-anointed elitist mofo....NOW.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
If so, then he should resign immediately because the voters have spoken by referendum and THEY indeed did support a legal marijuana scheme and its the law of the land now.
Are we seeing an anti-democratic, patronizing, paternalistic, fascist trend here with your Governor??
Maine's regulated Marijuana market could still be saved
“Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly,” said state Governor Paul LePage in a warning to voters against approving a marijuana legalization measure. “We do not need to legalize another drug that could lead to more deaths.”
With the governor’s anti-cannabis rhetoric, it was no surprise when he vetoed a bill to regulate marijuana sales. It looked like the state might miss its deadline to set up a regulated market by February 1.
But now, state lawmakers are expressing hope that they could still pass a marijuana bill with LePage’s blessing. The legislative committee in charge of setting up a regulatory framework has set up a public hearing on a new bill for January 5 and is seeking a meeting with the governor in hopes of reaching a compromise.
“I’m feeling positive that if we can resolve a few of these issues, I think there is a pathway to passing a bill,” committee member Rep. Patrick Corey told the Portland Press Herald.
In his veto letter, LePage expressed displeasure with the different regulatory structures between the proposed recreational market and the state’s existing medical marijuana market. He also questioned whether cannabis tax revenues would pay for the regulatory costs. These concerns could be addressed as lawmakers work on the new bill.
But mostly, LePage’s grievance with the regulation bill is that legal cannabis conflicts with federal law. “The Obama administration said they would not enforce Federal law related to marijuana, however the Trump administration has not taken that position,” he wrote in his veto letter. “Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
No amount of compromise between the Legislature and the governor will solve that problem.
And it’s unclear how forthcoming the governor will be when it comes to working with the Legislature. Committee member Rep. Lydia Blume has expressed frustration at the lack of involvement from LePage’s office, despite asking him to “participate on numerous occasions.”
Still, a regulated marijuana market will address some of the governor’s concerns with legalization in the first place.
“People will smoke marijuana in pot stores right next to schools, daycare centers and churches. They will smoke pot and sell weed and state fairs,” he warned voters, alleging that pot could kill children and that employers would no longer be able to fire workers for cannabis use.
But the regulation bill that LePage vetoed last month placed restrictions on a marijuana business’ proximity to schools and explicitly allowed employers to develop their own workplace policies regarding marijuana usage.
Even state lawmakers who opposed marijuana legalization last year are pushing for a regulation bill that would create some oversight of the cannabis industry. Without it, adult cannabis consumers would still have to turn to an unregulated market.
Who give a fuck what he thinks...he's one citizen with one vote. No more, no less. Meanwhile, the voters of Maine have spoken and they do NOT agree with LePage.
"state lawmakers are expressing hope that they could still pass a marijuana bill with LePage’s blessing."
His "blessing". Screw his blessing....Maine, you need to deep six this self-anointed elitist mofo....NOW.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
If so, then he should resign immediately because the voters have spoken by referendum and THEY indeed did support a legal marijuana scheme and its the law of the land now.
Are we seeing an anti-democratic, patronizing, paternalistic, fascist trend here with your Governor??
Maine's regulated Marijuana market could still be saved
“Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly,” said state Governor Paul LePage in a warning to voters against approving a marijuana legalization measure. “We do not need to legalize another drug that could lead to more deaths.”
With the governor’s anti-cannabis rhetoric, it was no surprise when he vetoed a bill to regulate marijuana sales. It looked like the state might miss its deadline to set up a regulated market by February 1.
But now, state lawmakers are expressing hope that they could still pass a marijuana bill with LePage’s blessing. The legislative committee in charge of setting up a regulatory framework has set up a public hearing on a new bill for January 5 and is seeking a meeting with the governor in hopes of reaching a compromise.
“I’m feeling positive that if we can resolve a few of these issues, I think there is a pathway to passing a bill,” committee member Rep. Patrick Corey told the Portland Press Herald.
In his veto letter, LePage expressed displeasure with the different regulatory structures between the proposed recreational market and the state’s existing medical marijuana market. He also questioned whether cannabis tax revenues would pay for the regulatory costs. These concerns could be addressed as lawmakers work on the new bill.
But mostly, LePage’s grievance with the regulation bill is that legal cannabis conflicts with federal law. “The Obama administration said they would not enforce Federal law related to marijuana, however the Trump administration has not taken that position,” he wrote in his veto letter. “Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine.”
No amount of compromise between the Legislature and the governor will solve that problem.
And it’s unclear how forthcoming the governor will be when it comes to working with the Legislature. Committee member Rep. Lydia Blume has expressed frustration at the lack of involvement from LePage’s office, despite asking him to “participate on numerous occasions.”
Still, a regulated marijuana market will address some of the governor’s concerns with legalization in the first place.
“People will smoke marijuana in pot stores right next to schools, daycare centers and churches. They will smoke pot and sell weed and state fairs,” he warned voters, alleging that pot could kill children and that employers would no longer be able to fire workers for cannabis use.
But the regulation bill that LePage vetoed last month placed restrictions on a marijuana business’ proximity to schools and explicitly allowed employers to develop their own workplace policies regarding marijuana usage.
Even state lawmakers who opposed marijuana legalization last year are pushing for a regulation bill that would create some oversight of the cannabis industry. Without it, adult cannabis consumers would still have to turn to an unregulated market.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Agreement reached on retail Marijuana in Maine, but it could be again delayed
A coalition of supporters and opponents of recreational marijuana says it has come up with a framework to regulate the drug in Maine. The announcement marks a possible path forward as legislators restart the process to create rules that affect how marijuana is tested, taxed and sold. But it also comes amid questions about the possibility of a federal crackdown.
Dozens of people crowded the hearing room Tuesday as the Legislature’s Marijuana Implementation Committee began work on a bill that could set up the regulatory structure for recreational cannabis.
But at the beginning of the hearing, Republican Sen. Roger Katz made it clear that another cloud looms over a process already complicated by competing financial and political interests.
“If you think of this as a football game, we just want to know what the rules are. Is football even legal anymore?” he said.
Taking Katz’s football analogy further, lawmakers want to know if the federal government is preparing for an enforcement blitz in the eight states that contradict the federal law that says recreational marijuana is illegal.
In 2016, Maine voters legalized the sale and growing of recreational marijuana, by a narrow margin. And the voter-approved law has run into trouble ever since.
Lawmakers took months to draft rules to create dozens of regulations, but the resulting bill was vetoed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
The new, second effort was complicated last week when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he was rescinding an Obama-era policy that kept the feds from cracking down on the pot trade in the states where the drug is legal.
“From our vantage it just adds more confusion to something that was already really confusing,” said Mike Saxl, a lobbyist representing Narrow Gauge Holdings, a medical marijuana outfit trying to get into the recreational market.
Saxl’s client is among the coalition of groups that announced Tuesday that they had agreed to a general framework to regulate legal marijuana, including strict advertising standards, an opt-in requirement for cities and towns and a sales tax rate of 17.5 percent.
The coalition includes opponents of legal marijuana like The Christian Civic League and Mainers Protecting Youth and Communities, as well as Legalize Maine, the group that helped get the 2016 referendum on the ballot.
Saxl said the groups reached agreement despite divergent interests.
“If we’re going to have adult-use cannabis we should have a serious regulatory infrastructure to protect our families and our communities and also to maximize revenue in the state of Maine,” he said.
Paul McCarrier of Legalize Maine said he agrees, even though the agreement means his group will potentially have to surrender the prospect of marijuana social clubs.
“This has been a very hard-fought compromise and we believe this is the best path forward to protect the interests of all people of Maine — the people who voted for this, the people who voted against this,” he said.
But McCarrier said the Sessions announcement poses a big problem.
“The practical effect of that memo is it puts things on hold, because I don’t know that this administration, or any administration, would move forward with implementing a licensing structure with the threat of federal prosecution and federal asset seizure, as the governor has mentioned in his veto letter and as he’s mentioned publicly,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the feds are poised for a crackdown on legal pot, especially as opinion polls show a growing acceptance for legalization. The Sessions memo largely leaves enforcement decisions up to the 93 U.S. attorneys charged with carrying out Department of Justice policy.
Katz said U.S. attorneys have some independence from the DOJ. But that could mean some states will see a crackdown, while others will be left alone.
“A reality that could, in theory, setup 93 different ways that we deal with these issues in our country,” he said.
And there are recent examples that illustrate Katz’s point.
Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana the same year as Maine. On Monday, the U.S. attorney in the Bay State refused to rule out a crackdown on the voter-approved pot industry.
In Maine, so far, the future is cloudy. Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank said last week that he’s still evaluating how the Sessions decision will impact his office’s charging decisions here.
According to a press release issued shortly before airtime, Frank said his office will make charging decisions on a case-by-case basis and depending on resources. It also said that the U.S. attorney has prioritized prosecution of trafficking cases involving hard drugs, such crack, cocaine and heroin. Possession cases have not been a priority.
It's yet unclear how Frank's press release will affect lawmakers' efforts to create pot rules, or LePage’s opposition.
David Boyer helped lead the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana. He worries LePage could be further emboldened to continue opposing legal pot.
“This DOJ memo gives him plenty of cover to veto the next iteration of legalization that comes to his desk. Hopefully he doesn’t because this is just about discretion for the U.S. attorneys, but he’s concerned about the feds,” he said.
Last year the Legislature passed a moratorium on the retail sale of marijuana that expires in February. Katz and other lawmakers are backing an extension until May.
But it could be a lot longer than that before recreational marijuana is bought and sold in Maine.
A coalition of supporters and opponents of recreational marijuana says it has come up with a framework to regulate the drug in Maine. The announcement marks a possible path forward as legislators restart the process to create rules that affect how marijuana is tested, taxed and sold. But it also comes amid questions about the possibility of a federal crackdown.
Dozens of people crowded the hearing room Tuesday as the Legislature’s Marijuana Implementation Committee began work on a bill that could set up the regulatory structure for recreational cannabis.
But at the beginning of the hearing, Republican Sen. Roger Katz made it clear that another cloud looms over a process already complicated by competing financial and political interests.
“If you think of this as a football game, we just want to know what the rules are. Is football even legal anymore?” he said.
Taking Katz’s football analogy further, lawmakers want to know if the federal government is preparing for an enforcement blitz in the eight states that contradict the federal law that says recreational marijuana is illegal.
In 2016, Maine voters legalized the sale and growing of recreational marijuana, by a narrow margin. And the voter-approved law has run into trouble ever since.
Lawmakers took months to draft rules to create dozens of regulations, but the resulting bill was vetoed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
The new, second effort was complicated last week when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he was rescinding an Obama-era policy that kept the feds from cracking down on the pot trade in the states where the drug is legal.
“From our vantage it just adds more confusion to something that was already really confusing,” said Mike Saxl, a lobbyist representing Narrow Gauge Holdings, a medical marijuana outfit trying to get into the recreational market.
Saxl’s client is among the coalition of groups that announced Tuesday that they had agreed to a general framework to regulate legal marijuana, including strict advertising standards, an opt-in requirement for cities and towns and a sales tax rate of 17.5 percent.
The coalition includes opponents of legal marijuana like The Christian Civic League and Mainers Protecting Youth and Communities, as well as Legalize Maine, the group that helped get the 2016 referendum on the ballot.
Saxl said the groups reached agreement despite divergent interests.
“If we’re going to have adult-use cannabis we should have a serious regulatory infrastructure to protect our families and our communities and also to maximize revenue in the state of Maine,” he said.
Paul McCarrier of Legalize Maine said he agrees, even though the agreement means his group will potentially have to surrender the prospect of marijuana social clubs.
“This has been a very hard-fought compromise and we believe this is the best path forward to protect the interests of all people of Maine — the people who voted for this, the people who voted against this,” he said.
But McCarrier said the Sessions announcement poses a big problem.
“The practical effect of that memo is it puts things on hold, because I don’t know that this administration, or any administration, would move forward with implementing a licensing structure with the threat of federal prosecution and federal asset seizure, as the governor has mentioned in his veto letter and as he’s mentioned publicly,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the feds are poised for a crackdown on legal pot, especially as opinion polls show a growing acceptance for legalization. The Sessions memo largely leaves enforcement decisions up to the 93 U.S. attorneys charged with carrying out Department of Justice policy.
Katz said U.S. attorneys have some independence from the DOJ. But that could mean some states will see a crackdown, while others will be left alone.
“A reality that could, in theory, setup 93 different ways that we deal with these issues in our country,” he said.
And there are recent examples that illustrate Katz’s point.
Massachusetts legalized recreational marijuana the same year as Maine. On Monday, the U.S. attorney in the Bay State refused to rule out a crackdown on the voter-approved pot industry.
In Maine, so far, the future is cloudy. Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Halsey Frank said last week that he’s still evaluating how the Sessions decision will impact his office’s charging decisions here.
According to a press release issued shortly before airtime, Frank said his office will make charging decisions on a case-by-case basis and depending on resources. It also said that the U.S. attorney has prioritized prosecution of trafficking cases involving hard drugs, such crack, cocaine and heroin. Possession cases have not been a priority.
It's yet unclear how Frank's press release will affect lawmakers' efforts to create pot rules, or LePage’s opposition.
David Boyer helped lead the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana. He worries LePage could be further emboldened to continue opposing legal pot.
“This DOJ memo gives him plenty of cover to veto the next iteration of legalization that comes to his desk. Hopefully he doesn’t because this is just about discretion for the U.S. attorneys, but he’s concerned about the feds,” he said.
Last year the Legislature passed a moratorium on the retail sale of marijuana that expires in February. Katz and other lawmakers are backing an extension until May.
But it could be a lot longer than that before recreational marijuana is bought and sold in Maine.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Maine lawmakers trying to rein in large medical marijuana growers
State lawmakers want to overhaul Maine’s medical marijuana caregiver program.
On Wednesday, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee held hearings on seven new medical cannabis bills, ranging from a plan to tax adult-use cannabis to pay for medical cannabis testing to a bill that would allow opioid addicts to qualify for medical cannabis certification.
Over and over again, lawmakers and even some caregivers admitted the network that was once based on a neighbor-helping-neighbor philosophy had exploded in size and scale, warranting a new way to license and regulate an increasingly sophisticated industry.
Some lawmakers, like Rep. Paul Chace of Durham, want to crack down on caregivers, allowing them to treat only five patients a month and requiring caregivers to sell to patients in their home or at their grow, outlawing retail shops, to clean up what he calls “the wild, wild West.”
“I’ve lived this life of receiving drugs, being responsible for the patients who take drugs, and I’ve got rules, a board of pharmacy,” said Chace, a pharmacist by trade. “But this program, I hate to say it, but it’s referred to as the wild, wild West, and we just can’t have that.”
The state’s medical law currently allows licensed caregivers to serve no more than five patients at any one time. But a growing number of caregivers have become full-time professionals, using short-term patient designations to treat hundreds of patients a year and open up a store.
Erica Haywood, a medical marijuana caregiver from Farmington, testifies at Wednesday’s hearing on medical marijuana bills before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
Caregivers targeted this bill for elimination, saying caregivers can’t pay their bills if they only treat five patients a month. They said they need more than five paying patients to keep up a caregiver tradition of donating medicine to pediatric or low-income patients.
“The only way I am donating is through the five-patient rotation,” said Sean Wyatt, a Yarmouth caregiver. “Capping patients to four or five a month would destroy the caregiver community and force many patients into dispensaries, paying higher prices.”
Others lawmakers, like Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, want to allow large or collective caregiver operations to become dispensaries. The license would cost more and come with more rules, but it would let the caregiver serve more patients, have a bigger grow and hire more workers.
“The number of caregivers has increased so much because there aren’t enough dispensaries to meet demand in Maine, especially in rural areas,” Brakey said. “We should consider letting them become what they already are, which is a dispensary, with all the rights and responsibilities.”
A lobbyist for the Wellness Connection, which runs four of the eight state-licensed dispensaries, said his client might be able to support that idea, so long as that meant they paid the same fees and followed the same rules that dispensaries have to follow.
Sen. Eric Brakey, R Auburn, a co-chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, wants to allow large or collective caregiver operations to become dispensaries.
Dan Walker told the committee that Wellness wants to see a moratorium on caregiver licenses until the state Department of Health and Human Services can fix problems, like caregivers who open shops that function as unlicensed, unregulated dispensaries.
“These stores and large collectives are operating like a dispensary with none of the same rules as a dispensary,” Walker said. “Some of their grows dwarf the size of dispensary grow, but they don’t have to follow all of the rules that a dispensary has to.”
Those rules include things like seed-to-sale tracking and becoming a nonprofit, Walker said.
An alternative would be to rein in most caregivers, but give more freedoms to superstars that do well on state inspections, said Rep. Patricia Hymanson, D-York, allowing them to do things such as serve more patients, open a shop, buy and buy or sell with other caregivers.
“When we talk about the wild West, we focus on that fifth patient,” Hymanson said. “There are people who use that idea well and people who don’t, but it’s a problem. We are trying to figure out what the answer is to that problem.”
The committee will now hold work sessions on these bills, and will likely try to cobble together pieces from several into one large omnibus medical marijuana bill, Brakey said during a break in the hearing. The department that has regulatory oversight of the program has not yet weighed in, he noted.
Additional hearings will be held once the committee settles on a draft bill or slate of bills, Brakey said.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
These laws are passed by elected representatives...people who ran for state office....and one would assume that they would have a grasp of the basic tenets of the Constitution, to include the 4th amendment.
But apparently (without calling them names), they do not and I hope they get their Mr Happy slapped resoundingly by the courts.
Maine MMJ patients, store sue state over inspections of patients’ homes, stores
By The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine — The owners of a medical marijuana shop and two medical marijuana users are suing to stop Maine from implementing new medical marijuana regulations next month.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court targets a new rule that allows the state to provide same-day inspections of medical marijuana providers and to inspect a user’s home with a day’s notice.
The lawsuit contends such warrantless searches violated the Constitution.
The rules are due to go into effect on Feb. 1.
Related stories
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Justin Olsen and Nancy Shaw of New World Organics in Belfast and two patients, a cancer victim and an injured military veteran.
But apparently (without calling them names), they do not and I hope they get their Mr Happy slapped resoundingly by the courts.
Maine MMJ patients, store sue state over inspections of patients’ homes, stores
By The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine — The owners of a medical marijuana shop and two medical marijuana users are suing to stop Maine from implementing new medical marijuana regulations next month.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court targets a new rule that allows the state to provide same-day inspections of medical marijuana providers and to inspect a user’s home with a day’s notice.
The lawsuit contends such warrantless searches violated the Constitution.
The rules are due to go into effect on Feb. 1.
Related stories
- Maine will have marijuana social clubs… in 2023
- Marijuana users not a priority for Maine U.S. Attorney
- Maine lawmakers consider pushing marijuana sales back another 3 months
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Justin Olsen and Nancy Shaw of New World Organics in Belfast and two patients, a cancer victim and an injured military veteran.
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Baron23
Well-Known Member
This is simply unacceptable. The referendum passed by direct vote of the electorate. Everything else is self-serving political BS.
Regs For Sale Of Recreational Pot In Maine Put On Hold - Again - Until Mid April
The legislative committee charged with developing regulations for the sale of recreational marijuana in Maine has voted to extend a moratorium on the adult-use market until mid-April.
The moratorium that's been in place since last year has had little practical effect on the marijuana law voters approved back in 2016.
That's because Republican Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill last fall that would have established licensing standards for the purchase and sale of marijuana.
Nevertheless, lawmakers on the Marijuana Implementation Committee voted Friday to extend the moratorium - which expires on Feb. 1 - to April 18.
Without a moratorium on sales, some fear the public will be confused into thinking that it's OK to proceed with retail business plans.
Committee Chairwoman Teresa Pierce, a Democrat from Falmouth, says the moratorium has the duel effect of reminding the public that the adult use market is still offline while also encouraging lawmakers to continue drafting a bill to get it up and running.
"This is a simple bill that addresses it," Pierce said. "It keeps the pressure on us to do our work, to establish good policy."
Pierce and others thought they had achieved good policy after spending nine months crafting a bill last year. The LePage administration largely excluded itself from the process, and vetoed the bill.
Lawmakers on the committee are now trying to craft a second proposal, with an eye toward getting a veto-proof majority of support in the Legislature - or, potentially, the governor's signature.
But recreational marijuana advocates, including David Boyer, who helped lead the 2016 ballot initiative, worry that the committee is negotiating with itself and that its work will be in vain.
"To be perfectly frank, we're starting to even wonder if it's worth doing anything this session - if 2018 is just a lost year," Boyer testified before the committee. "Why try to appease a governor that's not going to support anything that this committee --"
Pierce cut him off, saying he wasn't allowed to speculate about the governor: "Again, we're not going to reference anyone else, other than the work of this committee, so thank you."
But Boyer isn't the only one who wonders if the effort to create regulations for an adult-use market is a fantasy that won't be realized until after LePage leaves office next year.
Democratic Rep. Lydia Blume, of York, worries that the administration will be less inclined to negotiate if the moratorium is extended.
"I just see what we have done here as a committee is that we have extended the moratorium, and therefore, have extended the inaction of the executive branch to do the work that it needs to do," Blume said. "If we didn't extend this moratorium would it help them write rules?"
Ultimately Blume joined her colleagues on the committee in unanimously backing the moratorium extension.
The proposal nows goes to the full Legislature for votes that are likely to take place next week.
Regs For Sale Of Recreational Pot In Maine Put On Hold - Again - Until Mid April
The legislative committee charged with developing regulations for the sale of recreational marijuana in Maine has voted to extend a moratorium on the adult-use market until mid-April.
The moratorium that's been in place since last year has had little practical effect on the marijuana law voters approved back in 2016.
That's because Republican Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill last fall that would have established licensing standards for the purchase and sale of marijuana.
Nevertheless, lawmakers on the Marijuana Implementation Committee voted Friday to extend the moratorium - which expires on Feb. 1 - to April 18.
Without a moratorium on sales, some fear the public will be confused into thinking that it's OK to proceed with retail business plans.
Committee Chairwoman Teresa Pierce, a Democrat from Falmouth, says the moratorium has the duel effect of reminding the public that the adult use market is still offline while also encouraging lawmakers to continue drafting a bill to get it up and running.
"This is a simple bill that addresses it," Pierce said. "It keeps the pressure on us to do our work, to establish good policy."
Pierce and others thought they had achieved good policy after spending nine months crafting a bill last year. The LePage administration largely excluded itself from the process, and vetoed the bill.
Lawmakers on the committee are now trying to craft a second proposal, with an eye toward getting a veto-proof majority of support in the Legislature - or, potentially, the governor's signature.
But recreational marijuana advocates, including David Boyer, who helped lead the 2016 ballot initiative, worry that the committee is negotiating with itself and that its work will be in vain.
"To be perfectly frank, we're starting to even wonder if it's worth doing anything this session - if 2018 is just a lost year," Boyer testified before the committee. "Why try to appease a governor that's not going to support anything that this committee --"
Pierce cut him off, saying he wasn't allowed to speculate about the governor: "Again, we're not going to reference anyone else, other than the work of this committee, so thank you."
But Boyer isn't the only one who wonders if the effort to create regulations for an adult-use market is a fantasy that won't be realized until after LePage leaves office next year.
Democratic Rep. Lydia Blume, of York, worries that the administration will be less inclined to negotiate if the moratorium is extended.
"I just see what we have done here as a committee is that we have extended the moratorium, and therefore, have extended the inaction of the executive branch to do the work that it needs to do," Blume said. "If we didn't extend this moratorium would it help them write rules?"
Ultimately Blume joined her colleagues on the committee in unanimously backing the moratorium extension.
The proposal nows goes to the full Legislature for votes that are likely to take place next week.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Wow, seems there is a real problem in comprehension of the basic tenets of democracy up there in MA. This all BS. Look to NV and PA for how programs can be rolled out expeditiously. This is just the more resistance to the expressed will of the voters, IMO.
Some Maine lawmakers push to delay legalization of pot sales
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers on Tuesday started discussions about how long to delay retail marijuana sales while lawmakers continue to work on regulations needed to get the industry up and running.
A ban on retail pot sales technically is in place until Thursday, but the state hasn’t set up a way for marijuana retailers to get the required licenses.
The Maine Senate began considering Republican Sen. Roger Katz’s bill to delay sales until the spring, though it’s unlikely regulations would be ready by then. Meanwhile, Republican House Leader Ken Fredette, who is running for governor, wants to delay recreational marijuana sales no longer than until Jan. 31, 2019, according to a proposed amendment provided to The Associated Press.
Katz’s bill would face action in both chambers.
Maine voters in 2016 narrowly approved legalizing recreational marijuana, and adults over age 21 can now possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot. But the state has placed a ban on retail sales as lawmakers try to overhaul the voter-approved law and get the regulatory process going under Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration.
LePage has said legalizing recreational marijuana flouts federal law and has called for lawmakers to address issues such as medical marijuana. LePage spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz said the governor supports delaying pot sales beyond this spring.
The Legislature last summer appropriated $1.4 million to help state regulators draw up marijuana rules that would require legislative approval.
Since then, a legislative panel has been trying to draw up an overhaul of the marijuana law that would address issues such as the taxing of retail marijuana, municipal revenue-sharing and pot social clubs. House Republicans helped sustain LePage’s veto of such a bill last fall, and the legislative committee is now working on a new version.
Department of Administrative and Financial Services spokesman David Heidrich said it would be unwise to start rulemaking and planning for implementing the marijuana law until a final bill becomes law. He said the $1.4 million remains unspent.
“It would be imprudent to occupy staff time and expend tax dollars on rulemaking when the department does not have a regulatory framework in place to which we can rule make,” Heidrich said in an email.
Once lawmakers are finished making changes, it could take state regulators at least nine months to draw up rules that the next Legislature would have to approve, Heidrich said.
Recreational use of marijuana also has passed in Massachusetts, which is also awaiting the implementation of systems to tax and regulate marijuana.
Some Maine lawmakers push to delay legalization of pot sales
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers on Tuesday started discussions about how long to delay retail marijuana sales while lawmakers continue to work on regulations needed to get the industry up and running.
A ban on retail pot sales technically is in place until Thursday, but the state hasn’t set up a way for marijuana retailers to get the required licenses.
The Maine Senate began considering Republican Sen. Roger Katz’s bill to delay sales until the spring, though it’s unlikely regulations would be ready by then. Meanwhile, Republican House Leader Ken Fredette, who is running for governor, wants to delay recreational marijuana sales no longer than until Jan. 31, 2019, according to a proposed amendment provided to The Associated Press.
Katz’s bill would face action in both chambers.
Maine voters in 2016 narrowly approved legalizing recreational marijuana, and adults over age 21 can now possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot. But the state has placed a ban on retail sales as lawmakers try to overhaul the voter-approved law and get the regulatory process going under Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration.
LePage has said legalizing recreational marijuana flouts federal law and has called for lawmakers to address issues such as medical marijuana. LePage spokeswoman Julie Rabinowitz said the governor supports delaying pot sales beyond this spring.
The Legislature last summer appropriated $1.4 million to help state regulators draw up marijuana rules that would require legislative approval.
Since then, a legislative panel has been trying to draw up an overhaul of the marijuana law that would address issues such as the taxing of retail marijuana, municipal revenue-sharing and pot social clubs. House Republicans helped sustain LePage’s veto of such a bill last fall, and the legislative committee is now working on a new version.
Department of Administrative and Financial Services spokesman David Heidrich said it would be unwise to start rulemaking and planning for implementing the marijuana law until a final bill becomes law. He said the $1.4 million remains unspent.
“It would be imprudent to occupy staff time and expend tax dollars on rulemaking when the department does not have a regulatory framework in place to which we can rule make,” Heidrich said in an email.
Once lawmakers are finished making changes, it could take state regulators at least nine months to draw up rules that the next Legislature would have to approve, Heidrich said.
Recreational use of marijuana also has passed in Massachusetts, which is also awaiting the implementation of systems to tax and regulate marijuana.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
I don't believe that LaPage has ever seen a delay to this program that he doesn't support. MA...you need a new governor, IMO.
LePage agrees to delay new, more restrictive medical marijuana rules
The governor wants to give a committee more time to resolve deficiencies in the program before implementing new caregiver and processor regulations.
Gov. Paul LePage has agreed to delay implementation of controversial new medical marijuana rules.
The rules, scheduled to go into effect Thursday, would have allowed surprise inspection of caregiver operations and closed regulatory loopholes that permitted marijuana processors to make and sell infused edibles, tinctures and lotions. But LePage agreed to put the new rules on hold until May so a legislative committee that oversees the medical marijuana program can draft a new law to implement program reforms.
“While I believe strongly that the medical marijuana program needs improved and increased regulation, waiting until May to ensure we do not create unnecessary confusion and complication is a reasonable approach,” LePage said in a letter sent Wednesday to Rep. Deborah Sanderson, R-Chelsea.
Related
Want news about Maine’s marijuana industry? Subscribe to the Maine Cannabis Report
Sanderson, a member of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, had asked LePage to delay implementation. The committee had endorsed a bill to put the new rules on hold, but it would not have made it to the governor’s desk in time to delay implementation. The committee expects to propose legislation this session that would address many issues raised by the administration, Sanderson said.
“The program needs greater oversight,” she said. “My request was not a way to avoid more regulation. I just want to do it in a thorough, thoughtful way.”
There haven’t been any significant changes to the medical cannabis program since 2011, Sanderson said.
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Implementing new rules now, only to have them change a couple of months later, would waste the time of the state Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees the medical marijuana program, Sanderson said. It also would be confusing and potentially dangerous for the medical marijuana community, whose state licenses and personal freedoms depend on strict compliance with the program rules and regulations.
“I think it’s prudent to see what’s in the new rules, parse out what exactly the department was going for as far as oversight and bring industry standards to everyone, and that includes caregivers,” Sanderson said. “That is not something we can just do. We have to hear from the department, the community. It would be complicated enough on its own, but we also have to look for ways to dovetail some of the policy we are working on with what is going on with adult-use marijuana.”
Sanderson said the legislative committee will look for ways to consolidate certain parts of the medical program with the one for sales of adult-use, or recreational, marijuana, which was approved by voters in 2016 but has been delayed as the regulatory framework is worked out. LePage wants to consolidate the two programs. Sanderson said there may be certain areas that can be combined, such as regulatory control, oversight, compliance, licensing, packaging, labeling and testing.
DHHS finalized the caregiver rules last year, but many in the community remained unclear on their impact, or how the state might enforce them, until recently.
Some of the owners of the labs that test and do the extraction work for Maine’s caregiver community – the state’s eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries test and perform extractions in-house now – had told caregivers they planned to shut down when the new rules went into effect Thursday to avoid possible regulatory penalties or referrals to law enforcement. No Maine lab owners were willing to discuss their business plans with the Portland Press Herald, but several had confirmed closure plans off the record.
Both DHHS Commissioner Ricker Hamilton and LePage think the medical marijuana program is flawed. On Jan. 12, Hamilton sent a letter to the legislative committee saying it lacks enough oversight, administrative authority and resources, and that bills pending before the committee only begin to “scratch the surface of needed reform.” LePage cited the significant growth of the caregiver network when he vetoed the adult-use marijuana bill last year, although new data shows the industry is shrinking.
In his letter to Sanderson, LePage urged the committee to make sure that its work to reform the medical program happens “in concert” with recreational deliberations.
“A concurrent medical program overseen by a different agency, with weaker regulation and disparate tax rates, will undermine both the medical and recreational programs,” LePage wrote. “In order to ensure safe, effective regulation, the two programs must be considered together.”
LePage agrees to delay new, more restrictive medical marijuana rules
The governor wants to give a committee more time to resolve deficiencies in the program before implementing new caregiver and processor regulations.
Gov. Paul LePage has agreed to delay implementation of controversial new medical marijuana rules.
The rules, scheduled to go into effect Thursday, would have allowed surprise inspection of caregiver operations and closed regulatory loopholes that permitted marijuana processors to make and sell infused edibles, tinctures and lotions. But LePage agreed to put the new rules on hold until May so a legislative committee that oversees the medical marijuana program can draft a new law to implement program reforms.
“While I believe strongly that the medical marijuana program needs improved and increased regulation, waiting until May to ensure we do not create unnecessary confusion and complication is a reasonable approach,” LePage said in a letter sent Wednesday to Rep. Deborah Sanderson, R-Chelsea.
Related
Want news about Maine’s marijuana industry? Subscribe to the Maine Cannabis Report
Sanderson, a member of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, had asked LePage to delay implementation. The committee had endorsed a bill to put the new rules on hold, but it would not have made it to the governor’s desk in time to delay implementation. The committee expects to propose legislation this session that would address many issues raised by the administration, Sanderson said.
“The program needs greater oversight,” she said. “My request was not a way to avoid more regulation. I just want to do it in a thorough, thoughtful way.”
There haven’t been any significant changes to the medical cannabis program since 2011, Sanderson said.
Advertisement
Implementing new rules now, only to have them change a couple of months later, would waste the time of the state Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees the medical marijuana program, Sanderson said. It also would be confusing and potentially dangerous for the medical marijuana community, whose state licenses and personal freedoms depend on strict compliance with the program rules and regulations.
“I think it’s prudent to see what’s in the new rules, parse out what exactly the department was going for as far as oversight and bring industry standards to everyone, and that includes caregivers,” Sanderson said. “That is not something we can just do. We have to hear from the department, the community. It would be complicated enough on its own, but we also have to look for ways to dovetail some of the policy we are working on with what is going on with adult-use marijuana.”
Sanderson said the legislative committee will look for ways to consolidate certain parts of the medical program with the one for sales of adult-use, or recreational, marijuana, which was approved by voters in 2016 but has been delayed as the regulatory framework is worked out. LePage wants to consolidate the two programs. Sanderson said there may be certain areas that can be combined, such as regulatory control, oversight, compliance, licensing, packaging, labeling and testing.
DHHS finalized the caregiver rules last year, but many in the community remained unclear on their impact, or how the state might enforce them, until recently.
Some of the owners of the labs that test and do the extraction work for Maine’s caregiver community – the state’s eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries test and perform extractions in-house now – had told caregivers they planned to shut down when the new rules went into effect Thursday to avoid possible regulatory penalties or referrals to law enforcement. No Maine lab owners were willing to discuss their business plans with the Portland Press Herald, but several had confirmed closure plans off the record.
Both DHHS Commissioner Ricker Hamilton and LePage think the medical marijuana program is flawed. On Jan. 12, Hamilton sent a letter to the legislative committee saying it lacks enough oversight, administrative authority and resources, and that bills pending before the committee only begin to “scratch the surface of needed reform.” LePage cited the significant growth of the caregiver network when he vetoed the adult-use marijuana bill last year, although new data shows the industry is shrinking.
In his letter to Sanderson, LePage urged the committee to make sure that its work to reform the medical program happens “in concert” with recreational deliberations.
“A concurrent medical program overseen by a different agency, with weaker regulation and disparate tax rates, will undermine both the medical and recreational programs,” LePage wrote. “In order to ensure safe, effective regulation, the two programs must be considered together.”
Baron23
Well-Known Member
LePage will continue to drag his feet and impede this democratically approved program until the people in Maine get rid of his sorry ass.
Oh, and on my personal crusade against politicians who thwart the will of the people, below is another older article (Nov) about...and not just in Maine either. This shit should piss you off if you support the basic tenets of democracy.
Recreational marijuana sales now legal in Maine, but dispensaries have no way to obtain licenses
Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration says it has not started coming up with a licensing and regulatory framework
By The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers are making it all but certain that retail pot sales approved by voters in 2016 will be pushed back again until next year.
A move to push back sales until this spring failed in the House on Thursday with opposition from both Republicans and some Democrats. Retail sales of recreational marijuana technically became legal in Maine Thursday, but marijuana retailers have no way to obtain a needed license.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage‘s administration says it has not started coming up with a licensing and regulatory framework as a legislative panel works on a comprehensive overhaul of the voter-approved law.
Op-ed: Maine’s governor wants to ignore the will of the voters. He’s not alone
The panel is aiming to soon finish such legislation.
It could then take at least nine months for Maine regulators to come up with rules needing legislative approval.
Op-ed: Maine’s governor wants to ignore the will of voters. He’s not alone.
State legislators across the country are resisting the will of the people by gutting or even repealing citizen initiatives
Published: Nov 9, 2017, 9:51 am • Updated: about 22 hours ago
By Josh Silver, Special To The Washington Post
Less than a day after voters in Maine voted to expand Medicaid in their state, Gov. Paul LePage (R) moved quickly to subvert their democratic will, announcing Wednesday that he will not implement the expansion until it is “fully funded by the Legislature.”
This is not the first time that elected officials in the state have blatantly ignored voters in this way. Last year, Mainers approved an innovative reform known as “ranked-choice voting,” as an effort to ensure that their governor wins with a majority of the vote. But the state legislature did not agree with that decision, so it recently voted to delay and potentially repeal the initiative. In fact, it brazenly meddled with every single ballot measure passed by the state’s voters in 2016.
Related:
– Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoes marijuana bill, saying federal future of legalization uncertain
– Mainers voted for a 10 percent tax on weed, but lawmakers want more
The news out of Maine is part of an ominous pattern: State legislators across the country resisting the will of the people by gutting or even repealing citizen initiatives. This is a shockingly undemocratic trend at a time when U.S. voters are already deeply unsatisfied with their elected leaders.
The citizen initiative – in which a group of voters brings a proposed law or constitutional amendment to the ballot for the public to approve or reject – exists in 26 states and the District of Columbia. It has long been a critical tool for advancing key issues that are popular with the public but unlikely to make it through legislatures or city councils.
But more and more legislators have been willing to effectively deny their constituents’ political voices. Perhaps the most egregious repeal of a voter-approved initiative in modern history took place this year in South Dakota, where voters passed a suite of ethics and campaign finance reforms aimed at eradicating political corruption endemic to the state’s politics. The state’s legislature quietly declared an “emergency session” and swiftly repealed the citizen-approved measure intended to regulate their own corrupt behavior.
Unfortunately, South Dakotans and Mainers are not alone. In Massachusetts, the legislature amended and delayed implementation of a 2016 voter-approved ballot measure to legalize marijuana sales. The Missouri legislature has repealed measures covering a range of issues, from school funding to gun safety to animal cruelty. Missouri lawmakers are also exploring new rules to make it harder to get an initiative on the ballot. Lawmakers in Michigan have the same objectives, but they employ different tactics. They have specialized in undercutting or superseding a proposed initiative before it has a chance to even pass – a process known as pre-emption.
More ballot initiative news
This pattern of legislative tampering should alarm all Americans. When our elected officials repeal voter-approved laws designed to improve the very nature of our democracy, it hurts voters from across the political spectrum.
Thankfully, there are better paths: In 1996, Arizona voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana by a margin of 30 points, only to have it gutted by the legislature the next year. Enraged, Arizonans went back to the ballot in 1998 to pass Proposition 105, which blocks politicians from meddling with voter-approved laws if legislative changes do not “further the purpose” of the measure. We also find hope in places such as California, where the legislature is completely prohibited from changing the text of an initiative that has been enacted by voters. Nebraska requires a legislative supermajority to change or repeal a ballot initiative.
Borrowing from these examples, we can support efforts to pass anti-tampering laws in the two dozen states that allow the initiative. We can advocate for supermajority requirements to amend or repeal any initiative, or better yet, we can forbid all tampering that fails to further the purpose of an initiative.
One such campaign, which my organization has led, has taken shape in South Dakota. Last week, grass-roots activists submitted more than 50,000 signatures to the secretary of state to place an amendment on the ballot. The proposal would finish what last year’s now-overturned initiative started by restricting lobbyist gifts to politicians, creating an independent citizen ethics commission, making political bribery a felony and – perhaps most important – preventing the state legislature from changing any initiative unless that change is first approved by the voters.
If voters across the political spectrum can stand up in the face of this legislative resistance, they’ll ensure that the true protectors of our democracy – the people themselves – have their voices heard in the fight against corruption.
Oh, and on my personal crusade against politicians who thwart the will of the people, below is another older article (Nov) about...and not just in Maine either. This shit should piss you off if you support the basic tenets of democracy.
Recreational marijuana sales now legal in Maine, but dispensaries have no way to obtain licenses
Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration says it has not started coming up with a licensing and regulatory framework
By The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers are making it all but certain that retail pot sales approved by voters in 2016 will be pushed back again until next year.
A move to push back sales until this spring failed in the House on Thursday with opposition from both Republicans and some Democrats. Retail sales of recreational marijuana technically became legal in Maine Thursday, but marijuana retailers have no way to obtain a needed license.
Republican Gov. Paul LePage‘s administration says it has not started coming up with a licensing and regulatory framework as a legislative panel works on a comprehensive overhaul of the voter-approved law.
Op-ed: Maine’s governor wants to ignore the will of the voters. He’s not alone
The panel is aiming to soon finish such legislation.
It could then take at least nine months for Maine regulators to come up with rules needing legislative approval.
Op-ed: Maine’s governor wants to ignore the will of voters. He’s not alone.
State legislators across the country are resisting the will of the people by gutting or even repealing citizen initiatives
Published: Nov 9, 2017, 9:51 am • Updated: about 22 hours ago
By Josh Silver, Special To The Washington Post
Less than a day after voters in Maine voted to expand Medicaid in their state, Gov. Paul LePage (R) moved quickly to subvert their democratic will, announcing Wednesday that he will not implement the expansion until it is “fully funded by the Legislature.”
This is not the first time that elected officials in the state have blatantly ignored voters in this way. Last year, Mainers approved an innovative reform known as “ranked-choice voting,” as an effort to ensure that their governor wins with a majority of the vote. But the state legislature did not agree with that decision, so it recently voted to delay and potentially repeal the initiative. In fact, it brazenly meddled with every single ballot measure passed by the state’s voters in 2016.
Related:
– Maine Gov. Paul LePage vetoes marijuana bill, saying federal future of legalization uncertain
– Mainers voted for a 10 percent tax on weed, but lawmakers want more
The news out of Maine is part of an ominous pattern: State legislators across the country resisting the will of the people by gutting or even repealing citizen initiatives. This is a shockingly undemocratic trend at a time when U.S. voters are already deeply unsatisfied with their elected leaders.
The citizen initiative – in which a group of voters brings a proposed law or constitutional amendment to the ballot for the public to approve or reject – exists in 26 states and the District of Columbia. It has long been a critical tool for advancing key issues that are popular with the public but unlikely to make it through legislatures or city councils.
But more and more legislators have been willing to effectively deny their constituents’ political voices. Perhaps the most egregious repeal of a voter-approved initiative in modern history took place this year in South Dakota, where voters passed a suite of ethics and campaign finance reforms aimed at eradicating political corruption endemic to the state’s politics. The state’s legislature quietly declared an “emergency session” and swiftly repealed the citizen-approved measure intended to regulate their own corrupt behavior.
Unfortunately, South Dakotans and Mainers are not alone. In Massachusetts, the legislature amended and delayed implementation of a 2016 voter-approved ballot measure to legalize marijuana sales. The Missouri legislature has repealed measures covering a range of issues, from school funding to gun safety to animal cruelty. Missouri lawmakers are also exploring new rules to make it harder to get an initiative on the ballot. Lawmakers in Michigan have the same objectives, but they employ different tactics. They have specialized in undercutting or superseding a proposed initiative before it has a chance to even pass – a process known as pre-emption.
More ballot initiative news
- Oklahoma governor sets date for voters to decide on medical marijuana
- Illinois county puts marijuana legalization question on March ballot
- Spurned Ohio medical marijuana applicant pushes full legalization vote
- Oklahoma will vote on medical marijuana next year — the question is when
- Supporters turn in draft petition to legalize recreational marijuana in another Midwest state
This pattern of legislative tampering should alarm all Americans. When our elected officials repeal voter-approved laws designed to improve the very nature of our democracy, it hurts voters from across the political spectrum.
Thankfully, there are better paths: In 1996, Arizona voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana by a margin of 30 points, only to have it gutted by the legislature the next year. Enraged, Arizonans went back to the ballot in 1998 to pass Proposition 105, which blocks politicians from meddling with voter-approved laws if legislative changes do not “further the purpose” of the measure. We also find hope in places such as California, where the legislature is completely prohibited from changing the text of an initiative that has been enacted by voters. Nebraska requires a legislative supermajority to change or repeal a ballot initiative.
Borrowing from these examples, we can support efforts to pass anti-tampering laws in the two dozen states that allow the initiative. We can advocate for supermajority requirements to amend or repeal any initiative, or better yet, we can forbid all tampering that fails to further the purpose of an initiative.
One such campaign, which my organization has led, has taken shape in South Dakota. Last week, grass-roots activists submitted more than 50,000 signatures to the secretary of state to place an amendment on the ballot. The proposal would finish what last year’s now-overturned initiative started by restricting lobbyist gifts to politicians, creating an independent citizen ethics commission, making political bribery a felony and – perhaps most important – preventing the state legislature from changing any initiative unless that change is first approved by the voters.
If voters across the political spectrum can stand up in the face of this legislative resistance, they’ll ensure that the true protectors of our democracy – the people themselves – have their voices heard in the fight against corruption.
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Baron23
Well-Known Member
Now is this a face that only a mother could love? They are stonewalling by bureaucracy.
Is The Governor of Maine Lightening Up His Anti-Weed Stance?
With the delay of a strict medical marijuana bill, we have to ask: is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance?
Is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? Republican Governor Paul LePage has just agreed to delay the implementation of tough new regulations for the state’s medical marijuana community. The proposed rules were scheduled to take effect February 1 but have been postponed until May instead.
New Regulations For Maine?
The new directives would have ended the manufacturing of cannabis products such edibles, tinctures and topicals. Unannounced inspections of caregivers and their operations would have also been permitted.
So is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? It doesn’t look like it. Governor LePage still wants stricter regulations. He’s just willing to wait to get them.
“While I believe strongly that the medical marijuana program needs improved and increased regulation, waiting until May to ensure we do not create unnecessary confusion and complication is a reasonable approach,” LePage said in a letter sent Wednesday to Representative Deborah Sanderson.
Representative Sanderson, also a Republican, serves on the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine State Legislature. That committee, which is tasked with regulating medical marijuana, had requested the delay and was poised to pass a law that would do just that.
But the law would have failed to take effect before the impending regulations, making passage of the bill a moot point. The committee wants time to craft legislation that would address many of the same issues covered by LePage’s delayed rules.
New Rules Are Still Inevitable
Representative Sanderson made it clear that she was not trying to avoid regulation of the cannabis industry in Maine. “The program needs greater oversight. My request was not a way to avoid more regulation. I just want to do it in a thorough, thoughtful way,” she said.
She also noted that by investing the time and effort now, the government will be able to merge regulation of medical marijuana with the implementation of the legalization of recreational marijuana passed by Maine voters in 2016.
“I think it’s prudent to see what’s in the new rules, parse out what exactly the department was going for as far as oversight and bring industry standards to everyone, and that includes caregivers. That is not something we can just do. We have to hear from the department, the community.
It would be complicated enough on its own, but we also have to look for ways to dovetail some of the policy we are working on with what is going on with adult-use marijuana,” Rep. Sanderson said.
Final Hit: Is The Governor of Maine Lightening Up His Anti-Weed Stance?
LePage has been a staunch opponent of marijuana legalization. In November 2017 the governor vetoed a bill passed by the legislature that would have implemented a commercial adult-use cannabis market in Maine. The bill was intended to enact Question 1, a ballot proposal legalizing recreational marijuana use that was passed by voters in November 216.
Governor LePage defended that action by saying he had sought the advice of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions while deciding what to do with the legislature’s bill.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine,” the governor wrote in a letter explaining his veto.
Is The Governor of Maine Lightening Up His Anti-Weed Stance?
With the delay of a strict medical marijuana bill, we have to ask: is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance?
Is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? Republican Governor Paul LePage has just agreed to delay the implementation of tough new regulations for the state’s medical marijuana community. The proposed rules were scheduled to take effect February 1 but have been postponed until May instead.
New Regulations For Maine?
The new directives would have ended the manufacturing of cannabis products such edibles, tinctures and topicals. Unannounced inspections of caregivers and their operations would have also been permitted.
So is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? It doesn’t look like it. Governor LePage still wants stricter regulations. He’s just willing to wait to get them.
“While I believe strongly that the medical marijuana program needs improved and increased regulation, waiting until May to ensure we do not create unnecessary confusion and complication is a reasonable approach,” LePage said in a letter sent Wednesday to Representative Deborah Sanderson.
Representative Sanderson, also a Republican, serves on the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine State Legislature. That committee, which is tasked with regulating medical marijuana, had requested the delay and was poised to pass a law that would do just that.
But the law would have failed to take effect before the impending regulations, making passage of the bill a moot point. The committee wants time to craft legislation that would address many of the same issues covered by LePage’s delayed rules.
New Rules Are Still Inevitable
Representative Sanderson made it clear that she was not trying to avoid regulation of the cannabis industry in Maine. “The program needs greater oversight. My request was not a way to avoid more regulation. I just want to do it in a thorough, thoughtful way,” she said.
She also noted that by investing the time and effort now, the government will be able to merge regulation of medical marijuana with the implementation of the legalization of recreational marijuana passed by Maine voters in 2016.
“I think it’s prudent to see what’s in the new rules, parse out what exactly the department was going for as far as oversight and bring industry standards to everyone, and that includes caregivers. That is not something we can just do. We have to hear from the department, the community.
It would be complicated enough on its own, but we also have to look for ways to dovetail some of the policy we are working on with what is going on with adult-use marijuana,” Rep. Sanderson said.
Final Hit: Is The Governor of Maine Lightening Up His Anti-Weed Stance?
LePage has been a staunch opponent of marijuana legalization. In November 2017 the governor vetoed a bill passed by the legislature that would have implemented a commercial adult-use cannabis market in Maine. The bill was intended to enact Question 1, a ballot proposal legalizing recreational marijuana use that was passed by voters in November 216.
Governor LePage defended that action by saying he had sought the advice of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions while deciding what to do with the legislature’s bill.
“Until I clearly understand how the federal government intends to treat states that seek to legalize marijuana, I cannot in good conscience support any scheme in state law to implement expansion of legal marijuana in Maine,” the governor wrote in a letter explaining his veto.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
This is a pitiful situation and the voters of Maine need to be very aware of who is/who isn't stonewalling implementation of the referendum. Those that are supporting the 'death by bureaucratic inaction' need to lose their place at the hog trough and be put out of government, IMO.
Stymied legalization process for marijuana opens door to gray market
Though citizens of Maine and Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational marijuana almost 16 months ago, legislative roadblocks mean there is still no legal way to buy or sell it in those states.
That has would-be users frustrated.
While Massachusetts is expected to provide entrepreneurs' licenses for recreational storefronts at some point this summer, Maine politicians — most notably Gov. Paul LePage — have stalled recreational sales.
The slow-moving process toward a legal marijuana market has led to the growth of gray market sales as a work-around.
“There is frustration among advocates and individuals who want to operate marijuana businesses,” said Marijuana Policy Project Executive Director Matt Schweich, who served as the director of the legalization campaigns in Maine and Massachusetts. “There are individuals who have invested heavily in businesses who thought they would be able to operate sooner and many of them are left in challenging positions.”
James MacWilliams prunes a marijuana plant that he is growing indoors in Portland, Maine on Dec. 13, 2017. Robert F. Bukaty / AP
On Thursday, a bill that would have further delayed Maine’s recreational marijuana legalization law was blocked in the statehouse with a bipartisan 81-65 vote. Those who voted against maintaining LePage's moratorium are hoping that this will spur the legislature to action and force the governor's hand.
“The referendum passed in Nov. 2016. We are coming up on the end of our session. It is our job and duty to get something done,” said State Rep. Theresa Pierce, according to Maine Public Radio. “I don’t want to kick the can down the field. I don’t think a lot of people want to do that. So I’m hopeful we can find that compromise and move forward.” Pierce, a Democrat, chairs the state's special committee working to implement marijuana regulations.
Related: Californians embrace new pot law with ribbon cuttings and long lines
Nonetheless, many practical needs for full implementation remain unaddressed. The state still has not produced licenses or policies for prospective stores, or decided how to regulate and tax the market. This past Thursday should have been the start of legal sales.
Nine states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana, but Maine, Vermont, D.C. and Massachusetts still do not have state-licensed storefronts. Vermont's legislature legalized marijuana in early January, making it the first state to do so without a public referendum.
Phil McCausland
In the absence of a decision, a bustling gray market has developed.
As the Associated Press reported on Thursday, a number of delivery businesses now exist in which individuals can purchase over-priced items that come accompanied with a "gift" of marijuana.
For instance, a business in Massachusetts named Duuber sells marijuana-themed T-shirts through its website. For $120, an individual can order a "Marijuana Tshirt — Grandaddy Kush small." According to the Associated Press, ordering the t-shirt would lead to a delivered garment and a parcel of weed.
The individuals behind "Duuber" did not respond to NBC News' multiple requests for comment.
FROM JAN. 4: How legalized marijuana is changing one California town 9:29
One Maine marijuana entrepreneur, however, told NBC News that he quit his job and moved back to his home state with the expectation that Maine would provide licenses in a timely fashion after voters elected to legalize cannabis. That has not been the case, and he and his partners have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into a potential enterprise that remains paralyzed.
Law enforcement oversight has slackened for cannabis, which has put entrepreneurs in a position to sell via this gray market — or even the profitable black market across state lines.
Related: San Francisco plans to wipe out thousands of older marijuana convictions
“Enterprising growers are trying to move their product because the risk is relatively low,” said the Maine businessman, who wished to remain anonymous because he fears legal and financial ramifications for his investment in the marijuana industry. “It’s actually quite easy to abuse the current system to sell cannabis in the current black market.”
“It’s an improvement over putting people in jail for cannabis related offenses,” he added, “but the longer you do go with legalization without legal sales, you should just expect that black market sales accelerate.”
Meanwhile, consumer spending on the budding legal industry — recreational and medical pot — reached $8.6 billion in 2017, according to Arcview Group, an Oakland, California venture capital firm focused on the marijuana market.
And though Attorney General Jeff Sessions chose to rescind a policy that allowed the marijuana industry to blossom during the Obama administration, it seems that many states are still inclined to explore legalization, which will further open markets across the country.
"It is clear, if anything, the administration's decision galvanized support among those who are advocating for marijuana reforms," Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Paul Armentano said.
Armentano noted recreational marijuana pushes in New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey state governments. Voters in Michigan will also consider a recreational ballot initiative in November, and Utahans will vote on a medical marijuana initiative at the same time.
"It certainly did nothing to abate momentum at the state level," Armentano said.
Stymied legalization process for marijuana opens door to gray market
Though citizens of Maine and Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational marijuana almost 16 months ago, legislative roadblocks mean there is still no legal way to buy or sell it in those states.
That has would-be users frustrated.
While Massachusetts is expected to provide entrepreneurs' licenses for recreational storefronts at some point this summer, Maine politicians — most notably Gov. Paul LePage — have stalled recreational sales.
The slow-moving process toward a legal marijuana market has led to the growth of gray market sales as a work-around.
“There is frustration among advocates and individuals who want to operate marijuana businesses,” said Marijuana Policy Project Executive Director Matt Schweich, who served as the director of the legalization campaigns in Maine and Massachusetts. “There are individuals who have invested heavily in businesses who thought they would be able to operate sooner and many of them are left in challenging positions.”
James MacWilliams prunes a marijuana plant that he is growing indoors in Portland, Maine on Dec. 13, 2017. Robert F. Bukaty / AP
On Thursday, a bill that would have further delayed Maine’s recreational marijuana legalization law was blocked in the statehouse with a bipartisan 81-65 vote. Those who voted against maintaining LePage's moratorium are hoping that this will spur the legislature to action and force the governor's hand.
“The referendum passed in Nov. 2016. We are coming up on the end of our session. It is our job and duty to get something done,” said State Rep. Theresa Pierce, according to Maine Public Radio. “I don’t want to kick the can down the field. I don’t think a lot of people want to do that. So I’m hopeful we can find that compromise and move forward.” Pierce, a Democrat, chairs the state's special committee working to implement marijuana regulations.
Related: Californians embrace new pot law with ribbon cuttings and long lines
Nonetheless, many practical needs for full implementation remain unaddressed. The state still has not produced licenses or policies for prospective stores, or decided how to regulate and tax the market. This past Thursday should have been the start of legal sales.
Nine states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana, but Maine, Vermont, D.C. and Massachusetts still do not have state-licensed storefronts. Vermont's legislature legalized marijuana in early January, making it the first state to do so without a public referendum.
Phil McCausland
In the absence of a decision, a bustling gray market has developed.
As the Associated Press reported on Thursday, a number of delivery businesses now exist in which individuals can purchase over-priced items that come accompanied with a "gift" of marijuana.
For instance, a business in Massachusetts named Duuber sells marijuana-themed T-shirts through its website. For $120, an individual can order a "Marijuana Tshirt — Grandaddy Kush small." According to the Associated Press, ordering the t-shirt would lead to a delivered garment and a parcel of weed.
The individuals behind "Duuber" did not respond to NBC News' multiple requests for comment.
FROM JAN. 4: How legalized marijuana is changing one California town 9:29
One Maine marijuana entrepreneur, however, told NBC News that he quit his job and moved back to his home state with the expectation that Maine would provide licenses in a timely fashion after voters elected to legalize cannabis. That has not been the case, and he and his partners have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into a potential enterprise that remains paralyzed.
Law enforcement oversight has slackened for cannabis, which has put entrepreneurs in a position to sell via this gray market — or even the profitable black market across state lines.
Related: San Francisco plans to wipe out thousands of older marijuana convictions
“Enterprising growers are trying to move their product because the risk is relatively low,” said the Maine businessman, who wished to remain anonymous because he fears legal and financial ramifications for his investment in the marijuana industry. “It’s actually quite easy to abuse the current system to sell cannabis in the current black market.”
“It’s an improvement over putting people in jail for cannabis related offenses,” he added, “but the longer you do go with legalization without legal sales, you should just expect that black market sales accelerate.”
Meanwhile, consumer spending on the budding legal industry — recreational and medical pot — reached $8.6 billion in 2017, according to Arcview Group, an Oakland, California venture capital firm focused on the marijuana market.
And though Attorney General Jeff Sessions chose to rescind a policy that allowed the marijuana industry to blossom during the Obama administration, it seems that many states are still inclined to explore legalization, which will further open markets across the country.
"It is clear, if anything, the administration's decision galvanized support among those who are advocating for marijuana reforms," Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Paul Armentano said.
Armentano noted recreational marijuana pushes in New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey state governments. Voters in Michigan will also consider a recreational ballot initiative in November, and Utahans will vote on a medical marijuana initiative at the same time.
"It certainly did nothing to abate momentum at the state level," Armentano said.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
So look, the voters of Maine TOLD their state goverment what to do on MJ legalization. They didn't ask, they told them via a direct democratic referendum.
Apparently your state government doesn't care what the voters want and my question is why there is not a concerted effort to sue these bastards and kick them out of office.
This is not an MJ issue....this is a democracy issue, IMO.
Maine: Lawmakers consider lowering number of marijuana plants people can grow for personal use
Maine’s recreational marijuana law allows adults to grow up to six flowering plants for personal and recreational use — but the legislative committee that’s overhauling the law is trying to cut that allotment by half.
Supporters of the proposal under consideration say it would give municipalities more flexibility to craft their own home-grow rules. They also say that the larger limit of six plants creates extra supply, which could potentially find its way onto the black market, especially if out-of-state traffickers pay Maine landowners to cultivate on their property.
They point to the example of Colorado, which originally allowed residents to grow up to 99 plants, but recently slashed it to 12 due to concerns about the black market.
Independent state Rep. Kent Ackley of Monmouth says leaving the existing six plant limit in Maine could undercut the yet-to-be launched recreational market.
“If we don’t, we don’t have a regulated marketplace where we can control the supply to a reasonable, rational way, and prevent the distribution of these products to folks — young folks — who shouldn’t have access to it,” he says.
But Democratic state Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop says the proposed change could violate the committee’s vow last year to leave home cultivation rules alone. He also challenges assertions that the current limit is creating problems, such as the diversion of legally grown cannabis to the black market.
“The problems that we say are happening are still in the atmosphere to me. I haven’t seen anyone sit there and document the problem and say, ‘Give me this authority to limit home-grow on parcels and tracts of land in the state of Maine,’” he says.
Hickman also questions the idea that six plants produce more cannabis than a single person could consume. He says a grower might have a good year and not need to cultivate any more plants for a couple of years after that. Or he says they might have a bad growing season and get a poor yield from the six plants.
The majority of the committee voted in support of the proposal.
The vote is one of several incremental steps taken by a panel that is attempting to draft an omnibus bill of rules for the recreational market. The larger bill could be voted out of committee by the end of the week, after which time it will go to the full Legislature for consideration.
The committee passed an overhaul of cannabis rules last fall, but it failed to become law.
Some believe the current attempt also faces long odds — and its prospect for passage could worsen if legal marijuana advocates organize against the proposal.
Apparently your state government doesn't care what the voters want and my question is why there is not a concerted effort to sue these bastards and kick them out of office.
This is not an MJ issue....this is a democracy issue, IMO.
Maine: Lawmakers consider lowering number of marijuana plants people can grow for personal use
Maine’s recreational marijuana law allows adults to grow up to six flowering plants for personal and recreational use — but the legislative committee that’s overhauling the law is trying to cut that allotment by half.
Supporters of the proposal under consideration say it would give municipalities more flexibility to craft their own home-grow rules. They also say that the larger limit of six plants creates extra supply, which could potentially find its way onto the black market, especially if out-of-state traffickers pay Maine landowners to cultivate on their property.
They point to the example of Colorado, which originally allowed residents to grow up to 99 plants, but recently slashed it to 12 due to concerns about the black market.
Independent state Rep. Kent Ackley of Monmouth says leaving the existing six plant limit in Maine could undercut the yet-to-be launched recreational market.
“If we don’t, we don’t have a regulated marketplace where we can control the supply to a reasonable, rational way, and prevent the distribution of these products to folks — young folks — who shouldn’t have access to it,” he says.
But Democratic state Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop says the proposed change could violate the committee’s vow last year to leave home cultivation rules alone. He also challenges assertions that the current limit is creating problems, such as the diversion of legally grown cannabis to the black market.
“The problems that we say are happening are still in the atmosphere to me. I haven’t seen anyone sit there and document the problem and say, ‘Give me this authority to limit home-grow on parcels and tracts of land in the state of Maine,’” he says.
Hickman also questions the idea that six plants produce more cannabis than a single person could consume. He says a grower might have a good year and not need to cultivate any more plants for a couple of years after that. Or he says they might have a bad growing season and get a poor yield from the six plants.
The majority of the committee voted in support of the proposal.
The vote is one of several incremental steps taken by a panel that is attempting to draft an omnibus bill of rules for the recreational market. The larger bill could be voted out of committee by the end of the week, after which time it will go to the full Legislature for consideration.
The committee passed an overhaul of cannabis rules last fall, but it failed to become law.
Some believe the current attempt also faces long odds — and its prospect for passage could worsen if legal marijuana advocates organize against the proposal.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Maine recreational marijuana law limits workplace drug testing, disciplinary consequences imposed by employers
A provision of Maine’s recreational marijuana law prohibits employers from taking adverse employment actions for off-premises marijuana use, as of February 1, 2018. This law effectively prevents Maine employers from testing for marijuana for pre-employment purposes.
The law also affects employers who employ employees subject to federal drug and alcohol testing regulations as well as those employers who are exempt from complying with Maine’s drug testing law.
Background
Maine voters approved the recreational marijuana law in November 2016. The law originally was scheduled to take effect on January 30, 2017. However, emergency legislation passed three days before that date delayed implementation of certain provisions of the law while the legislature reviewed and revised provisions on the retail sales of marijuana. Once the legislature did so, the Governor, on November 3, 2017, vetoed the law. The legislature sustained the Governor’s veto.
However, despite the veto, portions of the recreational marijuana law that were not under review were scheduled to take effect on February 1, 2018. As no action was taken prior to that date to delay or stop implementation of those provisions, they went into effect as scheduled.
Employer Provisions
One of the provisions that took effect on February 1 provides that employers are not required to permit or accommodate the use, consumption, possession, trade, display, transportation, sale, or growing of marijuana in the workplace. Further, employers are permitted to enact and enforce workplace policies restricting the use of marijuana by employees and discipline employees who are under the influence of marijuana in the workplace.
However, the law prohibits employers from “refusing to employ a person 21 years of age or older solely for that person’s consuming marijuana outside of the … employer’s property.”
This language presents a problem for employers that conduct drug testing, because a drug test does not reveal where someone may have used marijuana. It is impossible to learn from a drug test result whether marijuana was “consumed outside the employer’s property,” because marijuana can stay in the human body for days or weeks.
The Maine Department of Labor is taking the position that employers may not test for marijuana as part of a pre-employment drug test. However, the Department has stated that probable cause (i.e., reasonable suspicion) drug testing for marijuana still is permissible in Maine, because the recreational marijuana law allows employers to discipline employees who are under the influence of marijuana in the workplace.
Impact On Employers Who Are Exempt From Compliance with Maine Drug Testing Law
Employers with employees who are subject to federally mandated drug and alcohol testing regulations already are exempt from compliance with Maine’s drug testing statute with regard to those employees as well as their non-federally regulated employees. 26 Maine Rev. Stat. § 681(8).
These employers, however, are not exempt from Maine’s recreational marijuana law. While federal regulations (such as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s drug and alcohol testing regulations) require testing for marijuana, they do not address the employment consequences for testing positive (other than requiring the employee to stop performing safety-sensitive functions).
Employers regulated by the Department of Transportation, therefore, must consider what employment consequences will be imposed for positive marijuana test results, keeping in mind that the Maine recreational marijuana law does not permit employers to take adverse actions based on off-premises marijuana use.
Additionally, these employers may not test their non-federally regulated employees for marijuana as part of any type of drug test (e.g., pre-employment, post-accident, and random), other than a drug test based on reasonable suspicion in Maine.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
“This is clearly the law, but it passed by the narrowest of margins. We ought to go slow and be conservative.”
WTF, this ain't horse shoes where where near miss counts. Doesn't matter what the margin was, it was voted on and passed by the electorate. End of story.
Maine residents.....show these anti-democratic politicians the door....hopefully with a swift kick to the behind on their way out.
Maine committee's marijuana regulation bill omits licensing of social clubs
State lawmakers who are working to launch Maine’s adult-use cannabis industry have eliminated all references to social clubs from a proposed overhaul of the Marijuana Legalization Act.
Voters approved social clubs as part of the legalization referendum in 2016, but lawmakers have repeatedly voted for delays in an effort to keep Maine from being the first state to license gathering places for marijuana users.
Sen. Roger Katz: "Go slow and be conservative."
“No other state has licensed social clubs,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chairman of the implementation committee. “This is clearly the law, but it passed by the narrowest of margins. We ought to go slow and be conservative.”
On Wednesday, the committee voted 10-4 to eliminate references to social club licensing in one of a series of straw votes on its adult-use implementation bill. A final committee vote is planned for Friday.
The committee also voted down a plan to share the state’s marijuana tax revenues with communities that agree to host a licensed cultivation, processing or retail sales business.
It had initially proposed giving towns a cut of the state taxes, but the bill failed to survive a veto by Gov. Paul LePage.
In justifying his veto, LePage did not refer to the revenue-sharing proposal, but House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said the plan didn’t sit well with Republicans, who believe sales tax authority belongs with the state.
In its second attempt at passing legislation, the committee opted to replace local revenue-sharing with giving host towns the right to assess municipal impact fees to cover any potential cost increases, such as added police protection.
But the committee also voted that down Wednesday, in hopes of getting a bill past LePage, either by winning his signature or at least pacifying the Republican House caucus that stymied the veto override efforts last fall.
Rep. Erik Jorgensen, D-Portland, voted against the impact-fees concession, although he and Portland city officials had expected it, knowing that Republicans would kill the bill if it called for expanding local revenue options.
“We are pushing the cost off on our local taxpayers, and that’s not right,” Jorgensen said. “We will definitely see higher costs.”
But other lawmakers, including Rep. Kent Ackley, I-Monmouth, and Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, said host towns will see their property tax revenues rise as marijuana businesses set up shop.
“In some cases, we could be talking millions of dollars of assets,” Ackley said.
The committee is moving quickly to reach compromises on hot-button topics such as revenue sharing, personal-grow limitations, consolidation of the administration of adult-use and medical marijuana rules, and social clubs.
On Wednesday, the committee voted to place both the recreational and medical marijuana programs under the state Department of Administration and Financial Services. Each program would have its own rules, enforced by the department.
Medical marijuana supporters have opposed efforts to blend the two programs, saying consolidation in other states has led to the erosion of medical marijuana protections. Proponents of both programs say they don’t want that in Maine.
On Wednesday, lawmakers on the committee that oversees Maine’s medical marijuana programs agreed to the departmental transfer and some consolidation, as long as oversight didn’t end up in the bureau that regulates alcohol and lottery sales.
Medical marijuana is medicine, not an intoxicant, they said. The implementation committee had initially refused to rule out the alcohol bureau as a future home for blended programs, but changed course after hearing from fellow lawmakers.
Out of all of its compromises, the implementation committee has been willing to give up the most political ground on social clubs, making it a symbol of how far, and how quickly, it was willing to compromise with marijuana critics.
The first bill to overhaul the voter-approved legalization law proposed delaying social club licenses until a year after all other licenses were issued, but LePage vetoed it. The second attempt called for delaying social club licenses until 2023.
But Wednesday, the implementation committee voted 10-4 to eliminate the social club license altogether. Katz said he believed that most people who voted “yes” in the narrow referendum victory didn’t factor social clubs into their decision.
Most referendum supporters wanted a law that would allow adults to safely and legally buy, grow or use a reasonable amount of recreational marijuana, Katz said. The social club license was buried in the backup literature, he said.
The committee vote doesn’t prevent a future state legislature from allowing social club licenses, Katz said. Eighty-five years after the end of prohibition, Maine still uses legislation to try to perfect its alcohol laws, he said. The latest implementation legislation is undoubtedly the first of many marijuana bills, he said.
Like many other states, Maine has had its share of underground marijuana-friendly clubs, and certain parks and beaches are popular spots to use marijuana with different degrees of discretion.
Current law bans public cultivation or consumption, which doesn’t give the 36 million people who visit Maine each year a place to use any cannabis that they might buy when here, because most hotels ban smoking inside rooms.
Club advocates have said pot lounges would give tourists a legal place to use the pot they buy here and keep them out of public parks and beaches. But opponents say club patrons must eventually leave, increasing the risk of impaired driving.
A review of other states’ marijuana laws and regulations revealed that marijuana clubs remain uncharted territory nationally. Some state laws are silent on the matter and leave it up to towns, but no state has issued a social club license.
WTF, this ain't horse shoes where where near miss counts. Doesn't matter what the margin was, it was voted on and passed by the electorate. End of story.
Maine residents.....show these anti-democratic politicians the door....hopefully with a swift kick to the behind on their way out.
Maine committee's marijuana regulation bill omits licensing of social clubs
State lawmakers who are working to launch Maine’s adult-use cannabis industry have eliminated all references to social clubs from a proposed overhaul of the Marijuana Legalization Act.
Voters approved social clubs as part of the legalization referendum in 2016, but lawmakers have repeatedly voted for delays in an effort to keep Maine from being the first state to license gathering places for marijuana users.
Sen. Roger Katz: "Go slow and be conservative."
“No other state has licensed social clubs,” said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chairman of the implementation committee. “This is clearly the law, but it passed by the narrowest of margins. We ought to go slow and be conservative.”
On Wednesday, the committee voted 10-4 to eliminate references to social club licensing in one of a series of straw votes on its adult-use implementation bill. A final committee vote is planned for Friday.
The committee also voted down a plan to share the state’s marijuana tax revenues with communities that agree to host a licensed cultivation, processing or retail sales business.
It had initially proposed giving towns a cut of the state taxes, but the bill failed to survive a veto by Gov. Paul LePage.
In justifying his veto, LePage did not refer to the revenue-sharing proposal, but House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said the plan didn’t sit well with Republicans, who believe sales tax authority belongs with the state.
In its second attempt at passing legislation, the committee opted to replace local revenue-sharing with giving host towns the right to assess municipal impact fees to cover any potential cost increases, such as added police protection.
But the committee also voted that down Wednesday, in hopes of getting a bill past LePage, either by winning his signature or at least pacifying the Republican House caucus that stymied the veto override efforts last fall.
Rep. Erik Jorgensen, D-Portland, voted against the impact-fees concession, although he and Portland city officials had expected it, knowing that Republicans would kill the bill if it called for expanding local revenue options.
“We are pushing the cost off on our local taxpayers, and that’s not right,” Jorgensen said. “We will definitely see higher costs.”
But other lawmakers, including Rep. Kent Ackley, I-Monmouth, and Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, said host towns will see their property tax revenues rise as marijuana businesses set up shop.
“In some cases, we could be talking millions of dollars of assets,” Ackley said.
The committee is moving quickly to reach compromises on hot-button topics such as revenue sharing, personal-grow limitations, consolidation of the administration of adult-use and medical marijuana rules, and social clubs.
On Wednesday, the committee voted to place both the recreational and medical marijuana programs under the state Department of Administration and Financial Services. Each program would have its own rules, enforced by the department.
Medical marijuana supporters have opposed efforts to blend the two programs, saying consolidation in other states has led to the erosion of medical marijuana protections. Proponents of both programs say they don’t want that in Maine.
On Wednesday, lawmakers on the committee that oversees Maine’s medical marijuana programs agreed to the departmental transfer and some consolidation, as long as oversight didn’t end up in the bureau that regulates alcohol and lottery sales.
Medical marijuana is medicine, not an intoxicant, they said. The implementation committee had initially refused to rule out the alcohol bureau as a future home for blended programs, but changed course after hearing from fellow lawmakers.
Out of all of its compromises, the implementation committee has been willing to give up the most political ground on social clubs, making it a symbol of how far, and how quickly, it was willing to compromise with marijuana critics.
The first bill to overhaul the voter-approved legalization law proposed delaying social club licenses until a year after all other licenses were issued, but LePage vetoed it. The second attempt called for delaying social club licenses until 2023.
But Wednesday, the implementation committee voted 10-4 to eliminate the social club license altogether. Katz said he believed that most people who voted “yes” in the narrow referendum victory didn’t factor social clubs into their decision.
Most referendum supporters wanted a law that would allow adults to safely and legally buy, grow or use a reasonable amount of recreational marijuana, Katz said. The social club license was buried in the backup literature, he said.
The committee vote doesn’t prevent a future state legislature from allowing social club licenses, Katz said. Eighty-five years after the end of prohibition, Maine still uses legislation to try to perfect its alcohol laws, he said. The latest implementation legislation is undoubtedly the first of many marijuana bills, he said.
Like many other states, Maine has had its share of underground marijuana-friendly clubs, and certain parks and beaches are popular spots to use marijuana with different degrees of discretion.
Current law bans public cultivation or consumption, which doesn’t give the 36 million people who visit Maine each year a place to use any cannabis that they might buy when here, because most hotels ban smoking inside rooms.
Club advocates have said pot lounges would give tourists a legal place to use the pot they buy here and keep them out of public parks and beaches. But opponents say club patrons must eventually leave, increasing the risk of impaired driving.
A review of other states’ marijuana laws and regulations revealed that marijuana clubs remain uncharted territory nationally. Some state laws are silent on the matter and leave it up to towns, but no state has issued a social club license.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
"The proposed tax rate, which was unveiled Friday, includes a 21.5 percent excise tax levied on wholesale marijuana when a cultivator sells the unprocessed material to a processor or retailer, and a 10 percent retail tax. Because the value of unprocessed marijuana is so much lower than the retail product, state officials say the 21.5 percent excise tax is equivalent to the amount of money that would be raised from another 10 percent retail tax levied at the point of sale."
This is complete and utter BS and any politician trying to sell this mathematical lie should be tarred and feathers (or kicked firmly in the Umpa Lumpas).
Maine’s pot legalization committee reaches agreement on rewrite of voter-approved law
The bill it endorses would tax retail sales at 10 percent and halve the number of plants that could be grown for personal use.
Maine consumers would pay a 10 percent retail sales tax on recreational marijuana under a committee bill approved on Friday.
The bill would set a 10 percent tax on marijuana at the point of sale, which is what consumers would see on their sales receipt, in addition to a 21.5 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana that would be paid by processors and retailers. State officials say that would result in an effective tax rate of 20 percent, which would put Maine right alongside Oregon in having the lowest recreational marijuana tax rates in the nation.
Related Headlines
The legislative committee whose bill will launch Maine’s recreational marijuana market – which state officials predict will hit $85 million in retail sales in its first full year of operation – approved the regulatory and licensing bill by a 16-1 vote. It calls for a three-year residency requirement for license applicants, a limit of three home-grow plants per adult, and an unlimited number of commercial licenses. Towns that host marijuana businesses would not get any of the state taxes.
This bill would replace the Marijuana Legalization Act approved by voters in a 2016 referendum. That law, which is in effect now even though the state is not issuing any commercial licenses, set a 20 percent retail sales tax but did not levy an excise tax, gave medical marijuana caregivers a licensing preference but not residents, allowed adults to grow up to six plants on their property or someone else’s with permission, and allowed social clubs, drive-up windows and home delivery.
“The spirit of the referendum is certainly represented in the bill, but it also honors how close the vote was,” said Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, the committee’s House chairman. “Government too often doesn’t get anything done because we are not able to come to the center. Our bill was all about compromise. People will hate some of it, and love other parts of it. But it protects our kids, our public safety and our communities while also giving adults the right and privilege of using marijuana.”
The compromise won over Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, who voted against last year’s version of the bill but praised the “amazing give and take” of this version. That doesn’t necessarily mean the bill will win over the support of the House Republican caucus, which helped Gov. Paul LePage kill the committee’s first bill. House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, predicted that LePage will probably veto this committee bill, too.
“It’s a very different bill from the last one, a far better bill, but is it good enough?” Fredette asked Friday. “A lot of Republicans will never support a marijuana bill. Others I know will never override a veto. So even though it is a better bill, one the committee has worked very hard on, and even though they listened to our concerns, I believe it is still too early to say. I believe the fate of this bill remains uncertain.”
The proposed tax rate, which was unveiled Friday, includes a 21.5 percent excise tax levied on wholesale marijuana when a cultivator sells the unprocessed material to a processor or retailer, and a 10 percent retail tax. Because the value of unprocessed marijuana is so much lower than the retail product, state officials say the 21.5 percent excise tax is equivalent to the amount of money that would be raised from another 10 percent retail tax levied at the point of sale.
The state Department of Administration and Financial Services projects the state would collect $2.7 million in overall marijuana taxes in fiscal year 2020, the first year it expects to see any sales, and $16.3 million in fiscal year 2021, the first full year of market sales. That is based on a $335 excise tax levied on every pound of marijuana flower and mature plants sold by a cultivator. It predicts that Maine adults would spend $85 million on recreational marijuana in the first full year of the market.
State officials are projecting that sales will not begin until 2020, three years after voters had wanted, saying it will take nine months to write regulations, time for the next Legislature to approve those regulations, time to accept and award state licenses and then more time for those companies that win licenses to grow the cannabis for sale. The market could be ready to go earlier, officials say, but with a guaranteed change at Blaine House coming in the middle of that, it would be unlikely.
Officials say an excise tax would discourage diversion to the black market because it establishes a record of the plant when it is first produced, making it harder for that product to disappear along the way. It also is intended to protect the state from any price fluctuations that might occur as the market matures and more cannabis ends up hitting the adult use market, which often drives down price. An excise tax is based on weight rather than product value.
While the adopted rate might sound big, it doesn’t really add up to a 31.5 percent tax rate because of the difference in marijuana’s wholesale and retail value, said David Heidrich, a spokesman for the financial services department. The Senate chairman of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee, Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said the effective 20 percent tax rate still keeps the overall tax paid by the Maine consumer lower than any other state that allows recreational sales except for Oregon, which would be the same as Maine’s.
“It’s still low enough to encourage people who have been operating in the black market to come into the legal system,” Katz said. “That’s good for the consumer, too.”
The bill now undergoes a language review that is expected to take several weeks before it returns to the committee for a final look, but that isn’t expected to result in any substantial changes to the contents of the bill. A cleaned-up version will go to the House and Senate in late March, at the earliest. If approved by the Legislature, LePage has up to 10 days to take action on the bill.
The committee’s first bid to launch the market won legislative approval, but was vetoed by LePage. It fell 17 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override.
In his veto letter last fall, LePage cited his concern that such a bill would put Maine in conflict with federal law, which deems marijuana illegal, putting the public and private investment in launching a new industry at risk of federal enforcement. That risk has only increased since January, when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama-era protections for states that have legalized marijuana, Fredette said.
But even Fredette said the committee’s latest bill was more palatable than its first. The decision to remove social club licenses from the proposal was important to a House Republican lobby that worried they would increase the number of people driving high, Fredette said. He also praised the elimination of an earlier proposal to give towns a cut of marijuana tax revenues, which would have benefited the big cities at the expense of the small ones.
But some Republicans will still be unhappy with the committee’s failure to pursue a slower roll-out of the recreational marijuana market by limiting the number of grow and retail licenses issued in at least the first few years of this emerging industry. “We just don’t believe we ought to be moving at warp speed toward making it so easy for a lot of people to get high,” Fredette said. “We think we should take this as slow as possible.”
The lone “no” vote on the committee Friday was Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, an organic farmer who criticized the proposed tax rate, especially the excise portion, which he said would hurt small farmers trying to break into the industry. He also criticized the bill for its lack of a local revenue sharing option for municipalities, and for failing to do enough to promote social justice.
Marijuana activists wanted to wait to read the final version of the bill before weighing in on the details, but expressed frustration that it was taking so long to implement a recreational market that Mainers had approved in 2016 when other states have managed to begin sales within a year. “It is frustrating and disappointing that it will likely be years before adults will have a legal way to purchase marijuana in Maine,” said David Boyer, spokesman of the Marijuana Policy Project’s state chapter.
This is complete and utter BS and any politician trying to sell this mathematical lie should be tarred and feathers (or kicked firmly in the Umpa Lumpas).
Maine’s pot legalization committee reaches agreement on rewrite of voter-approved law
The bill it endorses would tax retail sales at 10 percent and halve the number of plants that could be grown for personal use.
Maine consumers would pay a 10 percent retail sales tax on recreational marijuana under a committee bill approved on Friday.
The bill would set a 10 percent tax on marijuana at the point of sale, which is what consumers would see on their sales receipt, in addition to a 21.5 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana that would be paid by processors and retailers. State officials say that would result in an effective tax rate of 20 percent, which would put Maine right alongside Oregon in having the lowest recreational marijuana tax rates in the nation.
Related Headlines
- Panel’s marijuana regulation bill omits licensing of social clubs
- Voter-approved law says Mainers can grow 6 pot plants each, but lawmakers want to make it 3
The legislative committee whose bill will launch Maine’s recreational marijuana market – which state officials predict will hit $85 million in retail sales in its first full year of operation – approved the regulatory and licensing bill by a 16-1 vote. It calls for a three-year residency requirement for license applicants, a limit of three home-grow plants per adult, and an unlimited number of commercial licenses. Towns that host marijuana businesses would not get any of the state taxes.
This bill would replace the Marijuana Legalization Act approved by voters in a 2016 referendum. That law, which is in effect now even though the state is not issuing any commercial licenses, set a 20 percent retail sales tax but did not levy an excise tax, gave medical marijuana caregivers a licensing preference but not residents, allowed adults to grow up to six plants on their property or someone else’s with permission, and allowed social clubs, drive-up windows and home delivery.
“The spirit of the referendum is certainly represented in the bill, but it also honors how close the vote was,” said Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, the committee’s House chairman. “Government too often doesn’t get anything done because we are not able to come to the center. Our bill was all about compromise. People will hate some of it, and love other parts of it. But it protects our kids, our public safety and our communities while also giving adults the right and privilege of using marijuana.”
The compromise won over Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, who voted against last year’s version of the bill but praised the “amazing give and take” of this version. That doesn’t necessarily mean the bill will win over the support of the House Republican caucus, which helped Gov. Paul LePage kill the committee’s first bill. House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, predicted that LePage will probably veto this committee bill, too.
“It’s a very different bill from the last one, a far better bill, but is it good enough?” Fredette asked Friday. “A lot of Republicans will never support a marijuana bill. Others I know will never override a veto. So even though it is a better bill, one the committee has worked very hard on, and even though they listened to our concerns, I believe it is still too early to say. I believe the fate of this bill remains uncertain.”
The proposed tax rate, which was unveiled Friday, includes a 21.5 percent excise tax levied on wholesale marijuana when a cultivator sells the unprocessed material to a processor or retailer, and a 10 percent retail tax. Because the value of unprocessed marijuana is so much lower than the retail product, state officials say the 21.5 percent excise tax is equivalent to the amount of money that would be raised from another 10 percent retail tax levied at the point of sale.
The state Department of Administration and Financial Services projects the state would collect $2.7 million in overall marijuana taxes in fiscal year 2020, the first year it expects to see any sales, and $16.3 million in fiscal year 2021, the first full year of market sales. That is based on a $335 excise tax levied on every pound of marijuana flower and mature plants sold by a cultivator. It predicts that Maine adults would spend $85 million on recreational marijuana in the first full year of the market.
State officials are projecting that sales will not begin until 2020, three years after voters had wanted, saying it will take nine months to write regulations, time for the next Legislature to approve those regulations, time to accept and award state licenses and then more time for those companies that win licenses to grow the cannabis for sale. The market could be ready to go earlier, officials say, but with a guaranteed change at Blaine House coming in the middle of that, it would be unlikely.
Officials say an excise tax would discourage diversion to the black market because it establishes a record of the plant when it is first produced, making it harder for that product to disappear along the way. It also is intended to protect the state from any price fluctuations that might occur as the market matures and more cannabis ends up hitting the adult use market, which often drives down price. An excise tax is based on weight rather than product value.
While the adopted rate might sound big, it doesn’t really add up to a 31.5 percent tax rate because of the difference in marijuana’s wholesale and retail value, said David Heidrich, a spokesman for the financial services department. The Senate chairman of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee, Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said the effective 20 percent tax rate still keeps the overall tax paid by the Maine consumer lower than any other state that allows recreational sales except for Oregon, which would be the same as Maine’s.
“It’s still low enough to encourage people who have been operating in the black market to come into the legal system,” Katz said. “That’s good for the consumer, too.”
The bill now undergoes a language review that is expected to take several weeks before it returns to the committee for a final look, but that isn’t expected to result in any substantial changes to the contents of the bill. A cleaned-up version will go to the House and Senate in late March, at the earliest. If approved by the Legislature, LePage has up to 10 days to take action on the bill.
The committee’s first bid to launch the market won legislative approval, but was vetoed by LePage. It fell 17 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override.
In his veto letter last fall, LePage cited his concern that such a bill would put Maine in conflict with federal law, which deems marijuana illegal, putting the public and private investment in launching a new industry at risk of federal enforcement. That risk has only increased since January, when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama-era protections for states that have legalized marijuana, Fredette said.
But even Fredette said the committee’s latest bill was more palatable than its first. The decision to remove social club licenses from the proposal was important to a House Republican lobby that worried they would increase the number of people driving high, Fredette said. He also praised the elimination of an earlier proposal to give towns a cut of marijuana tax revenues, which would have benefited the big cities at the expense of the small ones.
But some Republicans will still be unhappy with the committee’s failure to pursue a slower roll-out of the recreational marijuana market by limiting the number of grow and retail licenses issued in at least the first few years of this emerging industry. “We just don’t believe we ought to be moving at warp speed toward making it so easy for a lot of people to get high,” Fredette said. “We think we should take this as slow as possible.”
The lone “no” vote on the committee Friday was Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, an organic farmer who criticized the proposed tax rate, especially the excise portion, which he said would hurt small farmers trying to break into the industry. He also criticized the bill for its lack of a local revenue sharing option for municipalities, and for failing to do enough to promote social justice.
Marijuana activists wanted to wait to read the final version of the bill before weighing in on the details, but expressed frustration that it was taking so long to implement a recreational market that Mainers had approved in 2016 when other states have managed to begin sales within a year. “It is frustrating and disappointing that it will likely be years before adults will have a legal way to purchase marijuana in Maine,” said David Boyer, spokesman of the Marijuana Policy Project’s state chapter.
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