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Law Maine

I never thought of Maine as being a hot bed of anti-democratic, fascist state government (we don't care what you voted for, we are changing...for your own good.) but apparently voter approved referendums mean little to some members of that government.



Maine: Lawmakers push to rewrite 2016 voter-approved marijuana law


State lawmakers are moving forward with a legislative proposal to significantly amend various provisions of the state’s 2016 voter-approved cannabis law: The Marijuana Legalization Act.

Members of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee have voted 16 to 1 in favor of overhauling the law, which has yet to be fully implemented. Lawmakers had initially voted last year to delay the enactment of provisions regulating the retail production and sale of cannabis.

Then in November, Republican Gov. Paul LePage vetoed legislation that sought to license and regulate marijuana businesses and sales, stating: “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.” Lawmakers voted in favor of sustaining LePage’s veto.

Now lawmakers are pushing a plan to amend and repeal numerous provisions of the law, including provisions that have already taken effect. Specifically, language in the new proposal would limit the quantity of mature marijuana plants that an adult may legally grow in a private residence from six to three.

Legislators are advocating for this change despite the fact that no regulated, commercial market yet exists for cannabis — leaving adults reliant exclusively upon home cultivation operations. Further, no data has been presented indicating that the state’s existing plant quotas are either being abused or that home-cultivated marijuana is being diverted into the criminal market. NORML opposes this proposed amendment.

“A majority of Maine voters decided in favor of legalizing and regulating the use of marijuana by adults,” NORML’s Political Director Justin Strekal said. “It is time for lawmakers to implement the will of the people, not undermine it.”

Other language in the new proposal would repeal language permitting for the operation of state-licensed social use facilities, and would eliminate provisions redirecting portions of marijuana-related tax revenue to localities that explicitly permit such operations.

Separate language in the bill seeks to impose a new 21.5 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana transactions. The bill also makes it easier for communities that wish to ban adult use operations to do so.

A finalized version of the bill is anticipated to go before lawmakers in the House and Senate in late March. Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, the Implementation Committee’s House chairman, said that the so-called “compromises” in the plan are necessary because of the close nature of the 2016 vote and because the Governor has remained steadfastly opposed to the issue. Yet, even despite the proposed amendments, House Minority Leader Ken Fredette predicts that LePage will likely veto this committee bill too.

In Massachusetts, where voters approved a similar 2016 initiative regulating the adult use and retail sale of cannabis, regulators this week also announced delays and changes to the voter-approved law. On Monday, following pressure from the Governor and other lawmakers, members of the Cannabis Control Commission voted for a limited rollout of retail marijuana sales in July — postponing licenses for home delivery services, marijuana lounges, and other distribution channels until early next year.

Commercial marijuana production and sales were initially slated to begin on January 1, 2018, but lawmakers last year passed emergency legislation postponing the enactment of those regulatory provisions until this summer.
 
This is how the citizens of Maine, who voted for full rec in a direct democratic vote, are telling their Governor and his cronies that they meant what the voted for and to fuck off.

This is inevitable and could have been easily anticipated. Its no different than prohibition when the government does something stupid and/or against the will of the electorate, the electorate does what it wants with a big finger toward their politicians.

The continuing stupidity and obtuseness of some of our elected state level politicians is just breathtaking.

MA, get rid of LePage. I mean, kick this mofo out now.



A Cannabis gift economy grows in Maine as recreational sales face further delays


Just like in D.C. and Massachusetts, new Maine businesses are offering “free” weed in exchange for donations or service fees.

Cannabis “gifting” businesses have sprung up in Maine to meet the demand of residents who are legally allowed to smoke weed to their hearts' content, but still aren’t permitted to buy it. Voters in the Pine Tree State approved recreational legalization via a ballot measure back in 2016, but conservative state legislators have been working with Gov. Paul LePage to continually delay the rollout of retail sales.

Last year, lawmakers enacted a moratorium on retail sales in order to have time to create a system to tax, license, and regulate the retail pot market. Gov. LePage, who opposes legalization entirely, proposed that retail sales be pushed all the way back until 2019 — which may ultimately be the case, as Maine’s legislature failed last month to both extend the formal moratorium on legal sales or pass a regulated sales bill, leaving the state of Maine’s marijuana market up in the air until state lawmakers can reach an agreement.

The delays in establishing a proper retail market leaves Maine in a legal grey area where there is great demand for recreational cannabis, but no approved way to access it.

Many residents are still purchasing pot on the black market, but over the past year, a few brave entrepreneurs have kickstarted new companies that are providing “free” cannabis products in exchange for donations or service fees. For a donation of $75 to $100, a Maine resident can now acquire some herb without needing to grow it themselves.

Portland-based Greenlyght has a different spin on gifting, delivering a quarter-ounce of weed to any adult for free, but with a $90 delivery charge. “We legalized marijuana in Maine, said it’s OK to smoke, but it’s been a year now and we still don’t have any stores selling recreational marijuana,” Greenlyght founder Bret Jackson explained to the Portland Press Herald. “That is kind of ridiculous, but it’s also what I call a business opportunity. Now you don’t have to grow your own, and you don’t have to know a guy who grows, because that’s not always an option, you know? You just have to know somebody like me who knows a guy. I connect the dots.”

The voter-approved Marijuana Legalization Act allows adults to give up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis to another adult for free, and these new operators are using the rule as a loophole to legitimize their gifting businesses. State legislators argue that these businesses are completely illegal, however, as customers still end up paying full price for their “free” weed.

Yet so far, state police have been loath to crack down on them; in fact, many local cops don't even know that gifting is happening in the state, according to Robert Schwartz, director of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association. If LePage succeeds in delaying retail sales until 2019 or beyond, Maine might see its gifting economy grow to rival those of Washington, D.C or Massachusetts. The legal weed market in the nation's capital also exists in a grey area where marijuana possession is legal, but sales are prohibited.

Numerous businesses have sprung up todeliver “free” ganja to anyone who makes a donation, or to provide free weed at gifting events along with the purchase of baseball hats or other novelty items.

In Massachusetts, adult-use cannabis has been legal since 2016, but regulations for sales are still being devised ahead of a planned launch this summer, creating a similar grey area where Bay State businesses have given cannabis as a “free sample” in tandem with a club entry fee or as a “gift” alongside a purchase of juice or cookies.

Unlike Maine law enforcement, D.C. cops have been cracking down on gifting businesses over the past year. Cops have already arrested over 30 people for illegally gifting weed at cannabis events this year, and city officials have revoked the business and alcohol licenses of venues which have hosted these events. It remains to be seen whether Maine's grey market will grow large enough to warrant police intervention before legislators finally allow fully-licensed retail sales to begin.
 
"allows patients to possess up to eight pounds of harvested cannabis."

Eight frakin pounds per patient!! Wow, MA can't seem to figure out if it wants to thwart the will of the people on legalization or allow the most liberal possession laws in the country. Yowzer...eight pounds. LOL



Maine bill would make it easier to qualify for medical marijuana
The bill eliminates patient limits for registered caregivers and allows patients to possess up to eight pounds of harvested cannabis

AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill to make it easier for Mainers to qualify as medical marijuana patients is getting some legislative backing.

Maine Public reports that the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee voted Wednesday to support a bill that allows caregivers to expand while accepting tighter regulations. The bill now faces House and Senate votes.

Related stories
The bill eliminates patient limits for registered caregivers and allows patients to possess up to eight pounds of harvested cannabis. Caregivers and dispensaries could carve out a larger sales market under the bill, which removes a list of qualifying medical conditions, such as epilepsy.

The bill doesn’t eliminate a cap on the number of medical marijuana dispensaries. The bill allows six new dispensary licenses.

The Bangor Daily News reports caregivers would be subject to unannounced inspections
 
Maine just became the first state to protect cannabis use outside work

Employers in Maine can no longer discriminate against employees based on marijuana use during off-time. Workers are now protected from getting fired or disciplined based solely on their use of cannabis in their off-time, attorneys at Littler Mendelson report.

In a refreshing display of “if it’s legal, it’s legal,” the Maine Department of Labor has removed cannabis from the list of substances for which employers may test.

While other states have legalized recreational cannabis use, until now, none of them prevented employers from enacting anti-marijuana policies or refusing to hire candidates who test positive for weed. HR managers at affected employers in Maine are updating their handbooks and drug policies to reflect the changes.

Screen-Shot-2018-03-22-at-2.44.11-PM-800x400.jpg


The provisions prohibit employers from refusing to employ or otherwise penalizing anyone 21 or older based on that person’s “consuming marijuana outside the … employer’s … property.” Regardless of where cannabis is consumed, however, the Act allows employers to ban use and possession of cannabis and cannabis products “in the workplace.” It also allows them to “discipline employees who are under the influence of marijuana in the workplace.”

Fortunately, a positive drug test alone won’t be enough to prove a worker was “under the influence” of marijuana. Those tests often show “positive” for days or weeks; cannabis metabolites are stored in fatty tissue.

The law doesn’t affect compliance requirements with federally mandated testing for cannabis. This includes testing under U.S. Department of Transportation regulations of some commercial motor vehicle drivers.

Actual retail cannabis sales have been delayed in Maine, largely because of the obstructionism of anti-cannabisGov. Paul LePage. But the rest of Maine’s Question 1, the 2016 ballot measure legalizing marijuana, is moving forward.

It remains to be seen if Maine’s non-discrimination provisions contained in the law will hold up in court. This is especially true given the conflict between federal and state laws.

A web page established by the Maine Legislature includes updates on developments on marijuana regulation.
 

Specialists in marijuana extraction may finally get own state license

But if the bill fails, cannabis caregivers fear extraction labs will close and certified patients will be forced to go underground to get the medicine they need.


After years of operating in the shadows, people who make marijuana-infused foods, tinctures and oils for qualified medical patients may finally get their own state license.

State lawmakers who oversee Maine’s medical marijuana program want to license and regulate the use of explosive chemicals or gases to extract concentrates from the cannabis plant.


Full of cannabidiol, the part of the cannabis plant with healing and therapeutic properties, the extracted resin can be made into edible foods or oils, topical salves or wax that can be vaped. Patients who don’t smoke rely on some form of extraction to get their medicine.

Maine allows qualified patients, caregivers and dispensaries to do their own extractions, but last year it adopted rules that would have outlawed the existing, complicated system that enables people to specialize in extraction. Backlash from caregivers, who rely on these specialists to offer their patients a wide range of non-smokable medicines, prompted the state to put the new rules on hold to give lawmakers a chance to write new law.

“If we do nothing, patient access will be horribly affected, jobs will be lost and small businesses will suffer,” Joel Pepin, owner and founder of SJR Labs in Auburn, said at a recent legislative hearing. “In any maturing industry, it’s very common to witness divisions of labor within the industry. That’s what us processors … are – a niche service provider offering a service that a single caregiver would never be able to provide for themselves.”

The processor niche would get the legitimization it is seeking under a bill endorsed this month by the Health and Human Services Committee. The bill provides a pathway for labs of all sizes to operate legally, but it would come at a cost – anyone who wants to extract using a potentially hazardous chemical or gas, such as butane, ether, carbon dioxide or propane, would have to get a manufacturing license and a safety and equipment certification from a state-licensed engineer.

The state would offer two different licenses, for those processing up to 40 pounds at one time and those that can process up to 200 pounds, either of which would cost no more than $300, said Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, the committee’s Senate chairman. The committee opted to keep the manufacturing license fee “relatively low” because it knew the cost of the hazardous material extraction certification could run much higher, at least at first, he said.

Just how much depends on whom you ask. Chris Witherell, a professional engineer who does extraction facility certifications in Colorado, California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon, says the lab should expect to pay one of the more than 600 engineers licensed to work in Maine about $2,500, plus travel, to certify its facility. It would be up to the equipment manufacturer, not the buyer, to pay an engineer to verify the safety and quality of the extraction equipment, he said.

But some caregivers worry the cost could be much higher, especially at the outset of the inspection process.

“Getting an engineer to sign off on your extraction setup is going to be too expensive for a lot of the small businesses,” said caregiver Dawson Julia, who operates East Coast CBDs in Unity. “I think it should be enough to get a municipal fire department or state fire marshal’s OK. That’s how they do it with autobody mechanics. They use oxygen gases that are very explosive and could take down a neighborhood. We should be treated the same.”

POLITICAL PROCESS

Those who participate in the medical marijuana program can continue to do their own non-hazardous extractions, using something like alcohol to draw out the desired concentrate, without a hazardous material license as long as they obtained the manufacturing license, Brakey said. An edibles maker who uses a carbon dioxide method of extraction would have to get a manufacturing license, hazardous material extraction certification and a commercial kitchen license.

The bill would allow processing labs in operation now to remain open while the state Department of Health and Human Services writes regulations and issues the first of the processing and hazardous material extraction licenses, Brakey said. This was done to prevent labs from having to close while the department worked, especially if it were to drag its heels for political reasons, Brakey said.

DHHS isn’t known for fast action, he said – the committee is still waiting for it to license medical marijuana testing labs, a measure signed into law two years ago.

“The whole point of this bill was to make sure the extraction labs in operation now can keep going, so long as they’re doing what they do safely,” Brakey said. “I’ve toured some of them, and I know the great lengths they’ve gone to in order to try to stay safe and to stay within the confines of a medical marijuana law that has not kept up with the growth of this industry. Don’t forget, this is an industry trying to help people. We should try to help them do that.”

The proposed bill doesn’t set any restrictions on who could get a license, or cap the total number of manufacturing licenses or hazardous-extraction certificates awarded, but it does allow the state to issue rules that would control who can run an extraction lab, the records that must be kept and required security measures. It does not reference any kind of licensing or certificate preference for residents, nor address employee qualifications or background checks.

But the final language of the bill endorsed March 7 is still being worked on by state analysts who write the proposed legislation. The committee will get the chance to review the final wording before sending it over first to the Senate, and then the House, for a vote. If approved by both houses, Brakey’s bill would then go to Gov. Paul LePage for action. LePage is a staunch opponent of marijuana, but Brakey remains hopeful the processor bill will succeed.

LePage has opposed efforts to launch recreational marijuana sales, and vetoed a regulatory bill that would have launched the adult-use market last November. He has also criticized the state’s medical marijuana program. LePage and Ricker Hamilton, whom LePage tapped to run DHHS, have criticized its lack of state oversight, administrative authority and resources.

If the processor bill fails, caregivers fear legitimate labs will close and caregivers and certified patients will be forced to go underground to get the medicine they need.

“Do you know what will thrive in the absence of legitimate labs? The black market,” Brett Messer, a caregiver for six years and owner of Brigid Farm in Saco with his wife, Stephanie, warned in legislative testimony. “Those will be the only labs left. I’m sure you’ve all seen the horror story of a fire or explosion in a residential neighborhood due to someone processing illegitimately with butane. Those will be the ones left processing if this bill is not passed.”

Brakey’s committee has also approved a medical marijuana reform bill that would provide those who agree to play by more restrictive rules the freedom to expand their businesses, agreeing to repeal the five-patient cap on registered caregivers and sell their medicine out of a shop, for example, but requiring unannounced inspections of their grow facilities. State analysts are crafting the final wording of that bill, too, before a final committee review sometime next month.
 
"Although Maine’s adult-use industry is stuck in political limborecreational cannabis sales are not likely to begin until 2019 – it is legal for adults older than 21 to grow, possess and consume marijuana in the state.

The sale of marijuana, however, remains illegal outside the medical market. Patients are required to have a valid, written recommendation from a physician to purchase MMJ from a caregiver or dispensary."

Ah, another well thought out and seamless cannabis program brought to you by your Government.....it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.


Chart: Medical marijuana patient counts, sales tumble in Maine

4-2-18-COTW.png


With adult-use sales still at least a year out in Maine, the gray market for cannabis is burgeoning – largely at the expense of the state’s regulated medical marijuana industry.

Sales of MMJ through Maine’s eight licensed dispensaries fell by over $2 million in 2017 – a 9% decline – on the back of an 18% drop in printed medical cannabis patient certifications.


Maine has a voluntary MMJ patient registry, so printed patient certifications are used to approximate patient counts in the state. Though not a perfect measure – it includes anomalies like reissues of lost certifications – industry experts believe it’s within 5% of the actual number of patients.
Although Maine’s adult-use industry is stuck in political limbo – recreational cannabis sales are not likely to begin until 2019 – it is legal for adults older than 21 to grow, possess and consume marijuana in the state.

The sale of marijuana, however, remains illegal outside the medical market. Patients are required to have a valid, written recommendation from a physician to purchase MMJ from a caregiver or dispensary.

That’s caused confusion for some patients, who chose not to renew their MMJ recommendation because they believed it was no longer necessary.

That legal disconnect – where cannabis is legal for anyone over 21 but can’t be sold outside the medical market – is being exploited by an increasing number of gray-market operators.

Adults can “gift” up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis to another adult in Maine as long as they don’t receive anything in return.

Several businesses in the state have begun leveraging this loophole, selling products unrelated to cannabis – such as T-shirts or soft drinks – at inflated prices and including a “free” amount of marijuana with their purchase.

Other individuals offer delivery services, where the marijuana is free but the cost of delivery scales to the amount of cannabis being provided.

A simple search for “marijuana” on the Craigslist’s Maine page results in several such services.

While gray-market suppliers are unlikely to have the product selection of dispensaries – which offer concentrates, edibles, topicals and flower – cheaper prices and the convenience of delivery has proved more than enough to sway patients away from dispensaries.

Medical marijuana industries tend to contract in states that go on to legalize recreational cannabis. For example, MMJ patient counts have fallen in Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.

Unless lawmakers make a concerted effort to crack down on gifting, dispensaries will need to go above and beyond what gray-market operators can provide in terms of quality, service and product selection to hold on to their shrinking customer base.
 
Yeah, keep the carpet baggers out.....I guess.


First pot-business licenses would go to Maine residents of at least 4 years
Lawmakers nail down the final details of a bill governing recreational marijuana sales, which now heads to the House.

Maine lawmakers want to offer the first recreational marijuana business licenses to residents who have lived here for at least four years.

A legislative committee voted Tuesday to boost the minimum residency requirement to get a state license to grow, manufacture or sell recreational marijuana from three to four years during its final review of the bill that would launch adult-use cannabis sales in Maine.

Related Headlines
The committee tried to overhaul the 2016 citizen initiative that legalized recreational cannabis last year, but Gov. Paul LePage vetoed it. The new version of the bill is more conservative, eliminating cannabis social clubs and cutting an individual’s home grow from six to three plants.

“The last few months, we listened carefully and made strategic changes we think improved the bill” Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, the committee’s Senate chairman, said after the Tuesday workshop. “We are proud of our work.”

Katz hopes this bill will have LePage’s support, but committee members are confident that they have the votes to override a veto if necessary. Last November, supporters fell 17 votes shy of being able to adopt the legislation without LePage’s signature.

On Tuesday, lawmakers hoped to pick up a few extra votes by boosting the residency requirement, which would give those who lived here before voters approved legalization at the polls a head start in the market before deep-pocketed investors could set up shop.

At the urging of Sen. Bruce Bickford, R-Auburn, the committee decided to add the extra year to its initial licensing preference to ensure that “ordinary Maine citizens (are) able to have first chance to succeed in the new industry,” Katz said.

The committee also voted to allow medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers who make the jump into adult-use marijuana to buy or transfer an unlimited number of marijuana plants from their own grow or that of other caregivers or dispensaries during the first year of operation.

In its earlier version, the committee had permitted only a one-time transfer from one medical grow.

Some marijuana advocates, however, have concerns about the committee bill.

“We are seriously concerned that the (committee bill) will lead to a rampant illicit market with unlimited commercial cultivation,” said Paul McCarrier, the president of Legalize Maine, which wrote the legalization ballot question. “Cutting adults’ personal grow in half is a slap in the face to Joe Six Plant, and Joe is voting in November.”

McCarrier has advocated for the Legislature to leave the citizen referendum law as it was approved.

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 10 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 bill will now be printed in its final form, the fiscal note will be updated and it should be ready to head to the floor of the House “fairly soon,” Katz said. The initial fiscal note was very complicated, making it difficult for committee members to sell it to their colleagues, he said.

Last year, LePage worried that the 20 percent sales tax in the committee’s bill might not raise enough revenue to pay to implement and run the new program. But this new version, with its10 percent sales tax and excise taxes for different parts of the plant, will pay for itself, state analyst Daniel Tartakoff said.

Upon full implementation of the bill, state fiscal analysts predict, the state should realize $19 million to $20 million in sales and excise tax revenues a year. The state might see some decline in the sales taxes levied on medical marijuana sales, but analysts say those losses would be minimal.

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.
 
More than an MJ issue, this is primarily an issue of anti-democratic actions by Maine's elected "representatives". Maine Americans, get yourself some new politicians who understand who pays their salary and what they are paid to do.

Maine lawmakers rewrite legal cannabis regulations (again)

Recreational pot sales have been in limbo while state lawmakers struggle to draft regulations. As a result, Maine’s medical marijuana businesses are suffering.

It has been nearly two years since Maine residents voted for the legalization of recreational cannabis, but the adult-use pot dispensaries and social-use clubs that voters approved are still nowhere in sight.

A state legislative committee is now wrapping up a second attempt at drafting regulations for retail sales, which will soon move to the state's House for a vote, potentially opening the door for sales to begin next year.

Even though the majority of Maine residents voted in favor of legalization, many state politicians, including Gov. Paul LePage, are strongly opposed to legal weed.

These politicians have been working hard to derail the process, and shortly after the ballot measure was passed in November 2016, legislators voted to delay retail sales until February 2018. Last year, the state legislature re-wrote the ballot measure into a more strictly-regulated law, but Gov. LePage vetoed the bill, delaying the implementation of legal sales yet again.

State legislators have gone back to the drawing board, and a legislative committee has just finalized a new version of the regulations that will soon advance to the House for debate. "The last few months, we listened carefully and made strategic changes we think improved the bill," state Senate committee chairman Roger Katz said to the Portland Press Herald. "We are proud of our work."

The new version of the bill is even more conservative than the previous attempt at re-writing the voter-approved law. The number of cannabis plants that each resident is allowed to grow is cut from six down to three, and a provision to allow cannabis social clubs has been removed entirely.

The new bill will also reserve the state's first canna-business licenses for individuals who have resided in the state for at least four years, allowing local business owners to get a head start in the industry before investors from other states get involved.

The new bill will set a 10 percent sales tax on retail pot sales as well as a 21.5 percent excise tax on wholesale cannabis sales. Gov. LePage has expressed concerns that this would not generate enough revenue, but analysts believe that these taxes will bring the state as much as $20 million a year, more than enough to pay for the implementation and upkeep of the regulatory program.

Even if the Legislature quickly approves the new bill and LePage signs it, full retail sales are not expected to begin until next year. In the meantime, while it is now legal for Mainers to possess and use cannabis, there is no way for them to legally purchase the drug. The resulting legal grey area has led to the creation of a gifting economy where businesses are offering "free" weed in exchange for donations or novelty products.

The state's medical marijuana industry is also suffering as a result of the legal confusion over recreational sales. Last year, the state's eight licensed dispensaries reported a 9% decline in sales, and state officials reported an 18% drop in the number of medical marijuana patient certifications, according to Marijuana Business Daily.

Some of these patients have reportedly decided not to renew their certifications because they believed that they would be able to easily purchase weed at retail stores this year.

A brighter future may eventually be in store for the state's cannabis industry, as this year is Gov. LePage's last term in office. In the next gubernatorial election, voters may well be inclined to support a new candidate who is willing to implement the cannabis laws that they voted for.
 
I have no idea where they are at with this and this article isn't too illuminating.


Maine House passes new compromise on legal marijuana sales
Lawmakers have been trying to hammer out regulations for legalized marijuana since voters chose to go legal in 2016.


AUGUSTA, Maine — A new attempt to create a legal framework for marijuana sales in Maine has passed the state’s House of Representatives.

The Maine House approved of the new compromise Tuesday. Lawmakers have been trying to hammer out regulations for legalized marijuana since voters chose to go legal in 2016.

Maine marijuana radio show educating listeners on law
The bill won approval from a legislative committee earlier, and passed the House despite an uphill battle. Republican leaders who oppose legalization because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level said they’re still against it.

Some pro-marijuana activists also didn’t like that it would cut the number of plants a person can grow for personal use from six to three.
The bill now needs more rounds of votes in the House and Senate.
 
The cannabis legislation:


Prohibits use in social clubs.
Eliminates deliveries, internet sales, drive-thru windows.
Reduces the number of plants adults can grow at home from six to three.
Reserves preferences for retail licenses to Mainers with at least four years residency.
Sets the likely availability of retail licenses as spring of 2019.
Gives municipalities the authority to regulate local cannabis businesses.
Imposes a 20 percent sales tax.
Distributes 6 percent of tax money to law enforcement.

Well, I'm glad it passed as its better than nothing...and if LePage won't sign it, they need to override his veto....but this sure ain't great, especially the hike from 10% tax to 20%.

Hey Maine...I thought you guys were dedicated individualists up there....you need some new politicians, I think.


Maine Senate joins House in passing recreational marijuana bill by veto-proof majority
The compromise legislation to regulate the voter-approved adult-use marijuana market is expected to go to Gov. LePage within days.

The Maine Senate on Wednesday passed the bill to launch the state’s adult-use marijuana market, putting the legislation on the brink of heading to Gov. Paul LePage’s desk with veto-proof margins from both chambers of the Legislature.

Key Provisions
The cannabis legislation:

Prohibits use in social clubs.

Eliminates deliveries, internet sales, drive-thru windows.

Reduces the number of plants adults can grow at home from six to three.

Reserves preferences for retail licenses to Mainers with at least four years residency.

Sets the likely availability of retail licenses as spring of 2019.

Gives municipalities the authority to regulate local cannabis businesses.

Imposes a 20 percent sales tax.

Distributes 6 percent of tax money to law enforcement.

1362491_767348-20180411_PotBillSe4.jpg

Sen. Mark Dion, left, D-Portland, spoke in favor of the marijuana market implementation bill while Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Benton, below, said he was strongly opposed. Staff photos by Joe Phelan
1362491_767348-20180411_PotBillSe5-620x1024.jpg

The bill passed by a 24-10 margin one day after being approved 112-34 in the House, which killed a more liberal version of the bill last year by sustaining LePage’s veto. The bill is likely to head to LePage after more legislative action Thursday.

The votes, and their veto-proof margins, came as good news to groups that represent cannabis business interests, such as Maine Professionals for Regulating Marijuana, which lobbied Maine’s lawmakers to pass a business-friendly bill. Last year, the group’s board members said that a long delay from legalization to licensing would send potential investors packing.

“Investors and entrepreneurs want legislative certainty to evaluate risk and ensure (that) investments in equipment, construction, et cetera, will comport with state law,” said Portland attorney Ted Kelleher. “We think that some investors left and will not be back, but also feel that if (the bill) becomes law, it will provide enough certainty to attract new investment.”

Business consultant Tom Mourmouras, who runs Fiscal Therapy Financial in Portland, said most of his cannabis clients are local and participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, including a number who plan to transition into adult-use when the market is open.

Those clients have used the 16 months since legalization to hone their business plans, work with their host cities and towns, and prepare for legal compliance, he said. They are watching the pending medical marijuana reform bill as closely as the recreational bill, he said.

RENEWING OUT-OF-STATE INVESTOR INTEREST

But not everyone decided to bide their time in the medical program during the delay, he said.

“A handful of clients have also used this delay to pursue licensing in Massachusetts with the intent of coming back to Maine when the market is ready,” said Mourmouras, who is himself pursuing a new medical marijuana storefront operation in South Portland.

Getting adult-use “back on track” will likely renew out-of-state interest in Maine, Mourmouras said.

He said that many of his clients who plan to stay in the medical marijuana industry will be happy if the adult-use bill is adopted because it will mean an end to the practice of cannabis gift deliveries, which many caregivers and even dispensaries blame for a drop-off in patients and sales.

Companies that have popped up across Maine are advertising free marijuana to customers willing to pay a fee equivalent to the value of the marijuana in exchange for delivery, a T-shirt, a painting or even a hug. Police have taken a hands-off approach to what some describe as a legal loophole.

The legislative committee tasked with overhauling the legalization law passed by voters in a November 2016 referendum had struggled to strike a balance between providing economic opportunities for Maine residents and the out-of-state investors who want to underwrite the first startups. Lawmakers eliminated the cap on grow licenses, which helps big businesses, but will give out the first licenses to Mainers who have filed a tax return here for at least four years.

Sen. Roger Katz, the Augusta Republican who co-chaired the committee that wrote the bill, said the drafting the measure involved a process of compromise among a group that ranged from those who hate cannabis but realize it is legal, to those who want to treat it like any other plant.

Related
By wide margin, House passes bill that would launch Maine’s recreational marijuana market
“We listened and we listened and we listened,” said Katz, who voted against legalization of adult-use marijuana in the 2016 referendum. “We talked to all the stakeholders, we looked at other states and what they’ve done. … We tried to thread the needle and be right in the middle of the pack.”

Katz ticked off what he thinks makes the compromise bill better than the current law of the land, the Marijuana Legalization Act approved by voters. The personal possession and home grow freedoms of that law are allowed, but sales are delayed until Maine issues licenses.

The compromise bill cuts the personal plant count down from six to three; eliminates deliveries, internet sales, drive-thru windows and social clubs; increases the tax rate from a 10 percent sales tax to an effective 20 percent tax; and funnels 6 percent of pot taxes to law enforcement.

“If for some reason this bill fails, the cheers that you will hear are from those who profit from the current illicit gray market,” Katz said.

Analysts say the adult-use market will generate about $23 million a year in tax revenues once it gets up and running, Katz said.

OPPOSITION TO COMPROMISE BILL REMAINS

The bill met with vocal opposition from those who still oppose marijuana legalization, including Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Kennebec, a former DARE officer who said the bill would normalize the use of a drug that federal authorities compare to heroin and cocaine.

Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, a marijuana proponent, opposed the compromise bill because he thinks it went too far in the other direction to achieve political acceptance, eroding the rights of residents to do what they want on their own land and pushing marijuana taxes too high.

If the bill continues on its current path, Mainers can expect to see the first recreational business licenses issued in the spring of 2019. It would allow recreational retailers to buy marijuana from former medical growers, a provision that would help retailers stock their shelves and potentially get Maine’s recreational market up and running quickly.

After a final review by both legislative chambers Thursday, the adult-use bill will head to LePage, who has 10 days to decide whether to sign it, veto it or allow the bill to become law without his signature.
 
"Their bill is a compromise between the referendum passed by voters and the continued prohibition sought by staunch opponents of legal marijuana."

Fuck their "compromise". It was passed by referendum so make it so. It astounds me that people can write or speak a line like that and not recognize in it the failure to implement democratic direction from the citizens.

And while you are at it...people of Maine....you REALLY need to deep six this Governor you have now.



Maine’s Governor LePage vows to veto bill regulating cannabis sales

Staunchly anti-legalization, Maine’s Governor LePage vows to veto bill regulating cannabis sales. Will his views be enough to stop it though?

Maine’s Governor LePage vows to veto bill regulating cannabis sales in the state, it was revealed this week. But that might not be enough to stop the measure.

The Maine House of Representatives passed the bill last week by a vote of 112-34. That margin is enough to override a LePage veto. The Senate is currently considering the compromise law and is expected to give its final approval later this week.

It Wouldn’t Be the First Time

Maine’s voters legalized cannabis for adult use in 2016. But last year, LePage vetoed the bill lawmakers had passed to create a legal market. A special legislative committee took up the issue again this year.

Their bill is a compromise between the referendum passed by voters and the continued prohibition sought by staunch opponents of legal marijuana.

Opponents of the compromise bill believe the legislature should not approve state measures that are against federal law.

“If the citizens were to do a referendum to legalize heroin, do we then have an obligation to make the heroin law, a better law?” asked House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, a Republican from Newport.

Lawmakers believe that what they have come up with this time is better than the grey market the state has now, where pot is legal but buying it isn’t. Democrat Theresa is a member of the Maine House of Representatives from Falmouth and co-chaired the committee. She told local media that “the status quo just isn’t what we should be doing.”

The new bill continues to permit home cannabis cultivation, but the number of flowering plants allowed is reduced from to six to three.

Also, the measure passed by voters included provisions to allow for the creation of social clubs permitting onsite consumption of marijuana. This year’s compromise eliminates that language from the bill.

Legislatures also removed a proposed cap on production for licensed cultivators.

Cannabis activist Paul McCarrier is the president of advocacy group Legalize Maine. He said that failing to limit production will allow tobacco companies to control the state’s marijuana market.

“We don’t believe that they should be the ones to try to come in here and take this industry over,” McCarrier said.

Maine’s Governor LePage Vows To Veto Bill Regulating Cannabis Sales

If, as expected, the Senate passes the bill later this week, Gov. LePage will have ten days to act. He has three options, one of which would be to sign the act into law. His second choice is to do nothing, and the bill would go into effect after 10 days.

He can also veto the measure as he has threatened. If he does, the legislature can vote again to override the veto with a two-thirds majority in both houses.

If the bill is successful, regulators will begin creating the rules that will govern Maine’s recreational cannabis market. The first legal retail sales could then be made as soon as 2019.

Even if LePage is slow to implement the plan eventually passed by the legislature, he will leave office early that year. Then his successor would be responsible for rolling out the state’s legal cannabis system.
 
There would be little that I would enjoy more than for LePage to veto this bill and the legislation to stick up his bum, break it off, and override him.

This is not due to MJ legalization militancy though I admit that I am....militant that is.

But I am also passionate about democracy and find LePage to be disgusting for his contempt and arrogance in the face of direct democratic expression of the will of the electorate. It is for this larger issue that I would love to see LePage knocked down a peg or two and turned out of office in 2019 to have to make an honest living.


Maine lawmakers believe they can override governor's veto on marijuana bill


The state Senate on Tuesday passed the bill in a concurrence vote of 25-10; the House also approved it last week by a veto-proof margin.

Legislators in the House believe their bloc of support for the bill will hold if the governor follows through on his promise to use a veto, according to the Portland Press Herald.

LePage has said he will strike down the bill over concerns that legalizing an adult-use marijuana program would create a second set of regulations and taxes on the substance in addition to the state's existing medical marijuana program.

LePage has 10 days left to decide on the bill, which would likely allow the state to issue recreational marijuana licenses for businesses in the spring of next year.

The state House also approved a bill Friday aimed at overhauling the medical marijuana program, allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for any medical problem and lifting market restrictions on dispensaries.

Maine's neighboring state of New Hampshire decriminalized marijuana last summer, one month after a push to legalize the drug in Vermont failed. Eight states and the District of Columbia currently allow marijuana to be used recreationally.
 
"Maine legislators on Tuesday sent a bill that would finally allow marijuana retail sales as voters demanded to Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who has vowed to veto it."

Maine voters...can you recall your governor? Maybe impeach him???



Maine lawmakers send marijuana sales bill to Gov. LePage. He’s vowed to veto it.


AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine legislators on Tuesday sent a bill that would finally allow marijuana retail sales as voters demanded to Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who has vowed to veto it.

The Senate’s final passage of the bill comes after voters in 2016 approved retail marijuana sales. Possession of up to 2.5 ounces (71 grams) of marijuana already is legal in the state.

LePage, who vetoed a similar bill last fall, recently said he’d veto the latest bill because it doesn’t create a single program for both medical and recreational marijuana. But votes in the House and Senate suggest lawmakers may have the two-thirds support needed in each chamber to override a veto. LePage has 10 days to sign, veto or let the bill go into law without his signature.

Maine House passes new compromise on legal marijuana sales
Supporters say the bill provides needed changes to the voter-approved marijuana law to protect children. It eliminates marijuana social clubs, reduces the number of plants that people can have and prohibits sale near schools. The voter-approved law created a 10 percent sales tax on retail marijuana. The new bill also would require growing facilities to pay an excise tax of $335 per pound of mature marijuana plants and other new fees.

Republican state Sen. Roger Katz said he hopes the governor will reconsider his position. If Maine doesn’t pass the bill, the voter-approved version of the retail marijuana law will remain on the books.

“That law has few protections to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids: no advertising restrictions, no limitations on proximity to school, no labeling requirements,” said Katz, a member of a bipartisan legislative panel that spent months hashing out the compromise bill.

Maine needs a medical marijuana program to ensure children in need can receive non-psychoactive cannabis, Katz said. Higher taxes on recreational marijuana won’t necessarily drive people to medical marijuana system, he said.

Some pro-marijuana activists don’t like the bill sent to LePage because it cuts the number of plants a person can grow for personal use from six to three. They also voiced concerns about the revised tax structure and formalizing it in state law.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that campaigned against legalization, has said that the bill is workable because it bans marijuana social clubs, keeps children from entering marijuana retailers and imposes stronger limits on home growing. But the group still thinks legalization is a bad idea.

If the bill becomes law, Maine would become the latest state to allow retail marijuana sales out of the four states whose voters legalized recreational use in 2016. Massachusetts is on track to allow marijuana sales in July, while retail sales have begun in California and Nevada.

Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon also have legalized recreational marijuana sales and possession. Vermont and Washington, D.C., have legalized possession of recreational marijuana.
 
People or Maine....I know he's full of shite and so do you. His objections to this bill are just the tactic of the day for his blocking of the will of the people in Maine on MJ legalization.

Dump this guy...preferably in some cesspool where he belongs.


LePage vetoes bill to launch Maine’s recreational marijuana marketplace

In his veto letter, the governor raises concerns about marijuana impairment and oversight of the medical marijuana program.

Gov. Paul LePage on Friday vetoed a bill to launch Maine’s adult-use marijuana market.

LePage, a staunch opponent of marijuana, said he doesn’t want Maine to operate two different marijuana programs – medical and adult-use – with two different tax rates and two different sets of rules, and raised concerns about the impact of marijuana impairment on traffic crashes. He also said he cannot “in good conscience” support a law that violates federal law because marijuana remains classified as a Schedule 1 drug.


In his veto letter, LePage once again criticized lawmakers for creating different regulatory structures and tax rates for medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. He also said that other states that have legalized recreational marijuana “have seen staggering increases in motor vehicle fatalities resulting from marijuana impairment.” He did not offer data to support this assertion.

“After one of the worst years in recent memory for crashes, fatalities and pedestrian fatalities, we should take every step to ensure safety on Maine roads instead of making them more hazardous,” LePage wrote. “No branch of government has a monopoly on a good idea; if Maine is going to legalize and regulate marijuana, it will require our joint efforts to get this important issue right.”

That final reference to branches of government working together is likely to anger lawmakers who served on the special committee charged with implementing legalization. Committee members said they received little to no cooperation from the LePage administration since voters approved the legalization ballot measure in November 2016, despite repeated requests for the administration to participate in the committee’s work.

Lawmakers who support the compromise adult-use bill hope they will have enough votes to override LePage’s veto. The bill passed with veto-proof margins in the House and the Senate, but a veto could erode that margin, especially among House Republicans, who last year led the effort to sustain LePage’s veto of the first adult-use market bill.

Related
Bill to launch recreational marijuana in Maine heads to LePage, who has vowed a veto
Legislators return to Augusta on Wednesday to take up the bills LePage has vetoed.

The co-chairs of the bipartisan implementation committee said they were disappointed by the governor’s veto given the work the committee did to protect children and give local control back to communities.

Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said legislators met with LePage a month ago about his concerns and felt they addressed most of them in the bill, which passed the committee on a 16-1 vote. He said legislators tried to be slow and conservative in how they approached the roll-out of the new industry.

“The choice now for legislators is whether to adopt the bill before them, which is the result of literally a year and a half of serious deliberation, or go back to the original marijuana legalization act,” he said. “The marijuana legalization act allows for things like internet sales, home delivery and drive-up windows, which we felt clearly were not in anyone’s best interest. Our bill, which is really a bipartisan effort, provides far greater safeguards to keep this out of the hands of kids, far better provisions for appropriate labeling and product warnings, and far more funding for law enforcement and public health education than the original bill.”

Rep. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, co-chair of the committee, called LePage’s request for a “joint effort” to address marijuana legalization perplexing. The committee met with the governor, his staff and a couple of his departments, she said.

Related
Lawmakers return to work next week. The question is what they can get done.
“It makes me wonder how in-tune he was to the entire process,” she said.

The adult-use bill is more conservative than the bill approved by referendum voters in November 2016. It doesn’t allow for social clubs, which means adults who buy their cannabis here will have to consume it on private property, with the permission of the property owner. The number of plants that residents can grow on their own property, or someone else’s with permission, has been cut from six mature plants to three, because lawmakers hope to reduce black market sales.

The bill doesn’t cap the number of licenses, or the amount of recreational cannabis that can be grown in Maine, which some entrepreneurs complain will drive down prices so far that small growers won’t be able to survive, leaving only those with out-of-state money behind them standing in the end. To allay those concerns, lawmakers voted to give the first three years of business licenses to those who have lived and paid taxes in Maine for at least four years.

If the adult-use bill continues on its current path, Mainers can expect to see the first recreational business licenses issued in the spring of 2019 and be able to buy from a retail store shortly thereafter. Unlike in some other states, the Maine adult-use bill allows retailers to buy product from licensed medical marijuana growers, so the shelves should be fully stocked upon the opening of the store.
 
Maine moves a major step closer to opening retail marijuana market

By overriding Gov. LePage's veto, legislators put the state on a path to legal production and sales – with rules more conservative than first proposed – and the first shops are likely to open in spring 2019.

1374165_58658-20180502_marijuana_25-1024x694.jpg

Republican Sen. Roger Katz, left, and Sen. Kimberly Rosen, R-Bucksport, members of the Legislature’s Marijuana Law Implementation Committee, react Wednesday as the Senate votes to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of the committee’s bill. Staff photo by Joe Phelan

AUGUSTA — The Legislature on Wednesday overturned a veto by Gov. Paul LePage that would have again stalled the legal sale of recreational marijuana, moving Maine a major step closer to launching a legal retail market for the drug.


The House voted 109-39 and the Senate 28-6 to override LePage’s veto of cannabis legalization legislation, setting the state on a path to the legal sale and production of recreational marijuana some 18 months after voters approved legalization Lawmakers override veto, make overdose reversal drug available to Mainers of any age[/paste:font]
David Boyer, Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the bill includes provisions that the organization supports and others that it dislikes.

“Ultimately, we’re glad that the Legislature is moving towards a regulated marketplace,” he said. “We are approaching two years since Maine voters passed this and adults in Maine deserve a place to purchase marijuana legally.”

OPPONENTS TO CONTINUE VIGILANCE

Scott Gagnon, director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposed the referendum, was pleased that the bill had been amended to ban social clubs and reduce the number of plants that can be grown for personal use from six to three.

58658-20180502_marijuana_2-300x201.jpg

Sen. Scott Cyrway, R Albion, speaks against overriding Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of the marijuana bill during debate in the Senate on Wednesday.

“This is an improvement” over previous proposals, he said. “It’s going in the right direction.”

He said Smart Approaches to Marijuana now will focus on things such as helping communities that don’t want shops selling marijuana in their towns, making sure that shops don’t get concentrated in particular neighborhoods, trying to offset “normalization” of pot use and counteracting problems that arise.

The final Senate vote came after a short debate in which a staunch opponent of legalization, Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Benton, made an impassioned plea to his colleagues to support the governor’s veto. Cyrway, a former Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer with the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, said legalizing the possession and use of recreational marijuana would put more children at risk for drug problems in the future.

Cyrway also invoked recently slain Somerset County Sheriff’s Cpl. Eugene Cole, saying the man charged with killing Cole, John D. Williams, had a drug problem.

“This guy had a drug problem and we are setting ourselves up to have more of them. We’ve got to stop it,” Cyrway said.

Others who voted to sustain the veto said lawmakers had made too many changes in the measure that voters approved at the ballot box, such as lowering the number of flowering plants that can be grown for personal use to three.


“We are not making a choice between legalizing or not legalizing marijuana,” said Sen. David Miramant, D-Camden. “The citizens referendum already spoke to the rules we would like to put in place.”

APPROVED BILL MORE CONSERVATIVE

However, critics were outnumbered by those who supported the bill, which was crafted over the course of nearly a year by a special legislative committee that sought to refine elements of the ballot-box measure.

The adult-use bill is more conservative than the bill approved by referendum voters in November 2016. It doesn’t allow for social clubs, which means adults who buy their cannabis here will have to consume it on private property, with the permission of the property owner. And lawmakers cut the number of plants that can be grown for personal use on their own property – or someone else’s with permission – from six to three in an effort to reduce black market sales.

58658-20180502_marijuana2-284x300.jpg

Marijuana Law Implementation Committee members Sen. Kimberly Rosen, R-Bucksport, and Rep. Patrick Corey, R-Windham, hug after the Senate voted to override Gov. LePage’s veto of the committee’s bill Wednesday.

The bill doesn’t cap the number of business licenses, or the amount of recreational cannabis that can be grown in Maine, which some entrepreneurs complain will drive down prices so far that small growers won’t be able to survive, leaving only those with out-of-state money behind them standing in the end. To allay those concerns, lawmakers voted to give the first three years of business licenses to those who have lived and paid taxes in Maine for at least four years.

LePage vetoed the bill last week, saying he doesn’t want Maine to operate two different marijuana programs – medical and adult-use – with two different tax rates and two different sets of rules. He also raised concerns about the impact of marijuana impairment on road safety, and said he cannot “in good conscience” support a law that violates federal law because marijuana remains classified as a Schedule 1 drug.

LePage also said that other states that have legalized recreational marijuana “have seen staggering increases in motor vehicle fatalities resulting from marijuana impairment.” He did not offer data to support that assertion.

“After one of the worst years in recent memory for crashes, fatalities and pedestrian fatalities, we should take every step to ensure safety on Maine roads instead of making them more hazardous,” LePage wrote. “No branch of government has a monopoly on a good idea; if Maine is going to legalize and regulate marijuana, it will require our joint efforts to get this important issue right.”
 
Somebody ruined a good dick when they put ears on LePage.
 
You Princes and Princess of Maine, you Kings and Queens of New England (see Cider House Rules, yeah LOL) .....you really need to dump LePage, doncha' think?


Maine House and Senate approve sweeping reform of medical marijuana bill
The legislation, which must be enacted by both chambers before going to the governor, would overhaul the caregiver system, letting those operations expand their businesses in exchange for more state oversight.

The Maine Senate and House voted Tuesday night to pass a sweeping medical marijuana reform bill that overhauls the caregiver system.

The bill, which now goes to Gov.Paul LePage, would let caregivers expand their business operations. For example, they could hire more than one worker, and sell up to 30 percent of their harvest to other caregivers and dispensaries. In exchange, however, they would have to submit to more state oversight, like unannounced state inspections and seed-to-sale tracking.

The bill allows caregivers to open retail stores, letting them become mini dispensaries that can serve as many card-carrying patients as they can from 30 flowering marijuana plants, but only in towns that have authorized medical marijuana storefronts.

The municipal opt-in requirement was added by Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, mirroring a provision in the adult-use law.

“This gives more clarify to municipalities, patients and medical marijuana providers on what they can and can’t do,” Katz said on Tuesday night before a Senate chamber that was down seven members as the special session wound down. “There is going to be a single set of rules if someone wants to set up a marijuana store.”

MONTHS OF CONSIDERATION

The original bill, which was written by the Health and Human Services Committee after months of consideration, gave towns a lot of authority to regulate caregivers, including their retail shops, through ordinances or zoning, but the Katz amendment essentially allows a town to shut out caregiver retail stores by doing nothing. This mirrors the state’s recently passed adult-use cannabis law.

The amendment also would allow towns to shut down existing stores that have popped up without municipal authorization.

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Maine cities, towns may gain control over all retail marijuana sales
The medical marijuana reform bill faced a long road to even get its shot at becoming a law. It had received support in both chambers in the regular session, but it had been held before it could get the final votes needed to go to Gov. Paul LePage until Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Benton, could get the Senate to consider his bill to repeal Maine’s adult-use cannabis referendum.

Cyrway’s bill – which the former DARE officer described as an effort to “put the horse back in the barn” – failed 13-18.

Senators made other changes to the bill from the floor, too, including one that would require caregivers authorized to give cannabis to a child on school grounds to undergo a background check, unless that caregiver is the child’s parent or guardian. That’s the same level of scrutiny applied to any volunteer who comes onto school grounds, said Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn.

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LePage, a staunch opponent of legalized cannabis, has sought greater state control over the state’s medical marijuana program, especially its caregiver network. Upon official receipt of the bill, LePage will have 10 days to sign, veto or allow the bill to become law without his signature.

AUTHORIZING A PATIENT’S MARIJUANA

While the underlying reform bill focuses most of its attention on caregivers, it would also change patients and dispensary rules.

The bill would allow doctors to authorize a patient’s medical marijuana use if the doctor thinks it will alleviate a medical diagnosis, but it would no longer limit authorization to a specific list of medical conditions. If certification is intended to treat substance use disorder, that doctor would have to develop a recovery plan with the patient. It requires an in-person visit for first-time certification.

The bill would allow dispensaries to shed their nonprofit status and authorize the department to issue six new dispensary licenses over the next three years, increasing the total number of dispensaries in Maine from eight to 14. It allows dispensaries to add another 7,000 square feet of growing space every two years.

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Lawmakers support sweeping changes to Maine’s medical marijuana rules
The House was expected to take up the reform bill Tuesday night, according to legislative staff.

The Senate also breathed new life into Maine’s marijuana processors, who had been forced to shut down under Department of Health and Human Services rules that went into effect in May that deemed the labs that extract concentrates used to make edibles, tinctures and oils to be an illegal collective. It voted 28-3 in favor of an emergency processor bill that now goes to the House.

This bill would establish two levels of manufacturing facility licenses, and requires someone making a marijuana product that is created with an inherently hazardous substance, such as butane, propane or carbon dioxide, to get an additional state certification. That permit would require a third-party state-licensed engineer to sign off on the facility, equipment and extraction methods.
 

"Where and How to Buy

There is not yet a system for recreational cannabis sales in the state."

And you can lay that at the feet of your lovely Governor LePage, may you send him into political office purgatory as soon as possible.

A Beginner’s Guide to Marijuana Use in Maine



New Englanders hoping to take a trip to Maine to bask in its beauty with some weed in hand might want to postpone the visit until some legalities are sorted out.

While recreational marijuana is legal in Vacationland, the law has hit some bumps since it passed. And the state is still in the process of sorting some of those rules out.

Cannabis in Maine
Maine voters approved Question 1 on Nov. 8, 2016, the Act to Legalize Marijuana, legalizing the recreational use, retail sale and taxation of cannabis. But on Jan. 27, 2017, the state legislature approved a moratorium on implementing parts of the law relating to retail sales and taxes until at least February 2018. The part of the law allowing consumers 21 and older to possess 2 1/2 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of cannabis did take effect on Jan. 30, 2017.

Then on May 2, 2018, the state Legislature overrode Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of An Act to Implement a Regulatory Structure for Adult Use Marijuana. The law was enacted.

The law stipulates in its introduction:

“Whereas, amendments to the Marijuana Legalization Act are necessary to provide clarity in the licensing and regulation of adult use marijuana establishments and in the oversight and enforcement of the laws regarding the personal use and home cultivation of marijuana…”

Even so, recreational marijuana sales in the state are most likely several months away.

Maine has permitted doctor recommendations, and limited possession, of medical marijuana since 1999. Voters passed Question 5, the Maine Medical Marijuana Initiative in 2009, expanding the state’s existing program.

Where and How to Buy
There is not yet a system for recreational cannabis sales in the state.

Medical marijuana patients can buy medical cannabis from a registered caregiver or dispensary, or can cultivate cannabis on their own property.

What Isn’t Allowed
Adults 21 and older can use or possess at any one time up to 2 1/2 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of marijuana or 2 1/2 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of a combination of marijuana and marijuana concentrate, including no more than 5 grams of marijuana concentrate. Adults can also give, without any money exchanged, those amounts to a person 21 or older. Plus, they can give without any payment, up to six immature marijuana plants or seedlings to someone 21 and older.

Adults 21 and older can, in fact, buy up to 2 1/2 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of cannabis; or 2 1/2 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of a combination of marijuana and marijuana concentrate, including no more than 5 grams of concentrate from a dispensary. Buying is legal from a store, the state just isn’t set up for it yet.

Public use isn’t allowed. Adults can consume marijuana in a private residence, or on private property not accessible to the public, if they have permission from the property owner.

Marijuana use isn’t allowed by a driver or passenger in a car.

Adults 21 and older can cultivate up to three mature cannabis plants, up to 12 immature plants, and an unlimited number of seedlings for personal use.

First-Time Use in Maine
Things are still in flux in Maine regarding marijuana laws, but newbies who now know the basic rules and want to light up can give it a go.

Remember to start with small amounts, and figure out your limits slowly.
 
LePage has never seen an MJ bill that he didn't veto...yes, he has objections but he always has objections to every bill and never gets involved early to ensure his concerns are addressed. People of Maine, you really need to 86 this joker.



Gov. LePage vetoes bill that would ease access to medical marijuana, listing 11 objections

lepage.jpg


About 42,000 Maine patients could benefit from legislation that revamps the caregiver system and removes some conditions for obtaining medical cards.

Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a medical cannabis bill Friday that would allow doctors to certify patient use for any medical reason.

In a veto letter fired off late Friday afternoon, LePage, a staunch marijuana opponent, ticked off 11 reasons why he was vetoing the sweeping reform bill, ranging from complaints about the establishment of a medical marijuana research fund to licensing of dangerous extraction laboratories, noting his list of complaints was by no means exhaustive.

The reform bill, which was held over to last week’s special legislative session, was the Legislature’s bid to tackle longstanding problems in the medical use of marijuana program, which has undergone significant changes only twice since it was established in 1999. Maine has 42,000 certified medical marijuana patients.

The legislation would allow doctors to certify a patient to get a medical marijuana card for any therapeutic or palliative use that doctor deems appropriate. It effectively eliminates the state list of qualifying conditions – ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to AIDS and prolonged untreatable pain to Alzheimer’s disease – that must be met to get a medical card under current law.

This change grew out of lawmakers’ desire to allow doctors to certify marijuana use for treatment of opiate addiction.

The bill now goes to the Legislature for override consideration. It is difficult to predict whether supporters will have the votes needed to override LePage. After a series of political delays, in which both parties traded votes on various bills that remained on the table, lawmakers conducted a series of mostly voice votes to send the medical cannabis reform bill to the Blaine House.

But Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, the co-chairman of the legislative committee that wrote the medical marijuana reform bill, predicts the bills will have the two-thirds support needed to override a veto.

“These bills passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House and Senate,” Brakey said. An override, he said, would “increase the choice for patients and legal businesses, while increasing the integrity of our medical cannabis program.”

Other Changes

The reform bill would allow Maine’s network of 3,000 registered caregivers to expand their business operations, allowing them to treat as many patients as they can from their limited harvest and hire as many employees as needed. Current law caps them at one worker and no more than five patients at a time. The bill also would officially sanction caregiver retail shops.

Mainers spent $24.5 million at state medical marijuana dispensaries in 2017. Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, a trade group that represents the caregiving community, believes that patients spent about as much buying medicine from a caregiver, which would bring industry revenue to $50 million a year, but state tax records do not track caregiver sales as a group.

LePage complained that the caregiver shop provisions of the bill would establish caregivers in the retail marketplace before adult use has even been launched. While the adult-use program establishes a robust list of conditions that a retailer must meet to get a state license, the medical marijuana bill would allow caregivers to set up shop with no qualifications other than Maine residency, he said.

Such an expansion of medical retail operations would be better considered next session, once an adult-use program has been set up by the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services and policymakers could reflect on lessons learned from that roll out, LePage argued. The programs need to “coexist rather than cannabilize each other,” he said.

He urged lawmakers to consider standalone legislation that immediately brings more oversight to the medical program and caregivers.

Although the bill would have expanded caregiver powers, it would have saddled them with more state oversight, as well, including the unannounced inspections of their grow facilities, including cultivation operations that are run out of a caregiver’s home. Some smaller Maine caregiver operations see these home inspections as an invasion of their privacy, as well as that of their patients.

But LePage argues the bill did not give the state enough additional authority or personnel to justify or manage this expansion of the medical program. The bill doesn’t give the state the power to drug test the additional employees allotted to caregivers, for example, or require caregivers to provide proof of sales tax registration before selling medical marijuana.

The bill should have expanded the kind of felony conviction that can disqualify someone from getting their caregiver card, he said. Like the current law, LePage said the bill he vetoed bans someone from caregiving if they have a felony drug conviction, but does not specifically address violent felons.

This leaves “patients vulnerable and the program open to potentially dangerous and violent criminals,” LePage wrote.

Administrative Changes
The bill creates a significant new administrative burden on the medical program with only a modest increase in staffing to implement it, LePage said. It also makes tax changes that permit dispensaries and caregivers to expense their equipment costs, a costly deviation from current tax law that places Maine in conflict with the federal tax code, LePage said.

The reform bill also would license marijuana extraction facilities, which create the concentrates used to make salves, soils and edibles popular with those who do not want to smoke their medicine. LePage said these labs pose a significant public health risk because the extraction requires the use of inherently hazardous materials.

The processor section of the reform bill that LePage vetoed also was written as its own standalone emergency legislation, just in case the larger and more controversial medical marijuana reform bill were to fail, but LePage vetoed that bill on Friday as well. That veto was accompanied by a veto letter that was even more strongly worded than his reform bill veto.

“Lawmakers need only look at the recent incidents in Ellsworth and Biddeford for an example of just how dangerous it can be to extract marijuana concentrates with these materials,” he said, citing recent examples of illegal home labs. “Passing legislation that would permit newly established manufacturing facilities to conduct this same work in the absence of rule or certification is irresponsible.”

The legislation would permit the use of marijuana in any form, including potentially hazardous ways such as eye drops, injectables and tasteless powders that have become problems in other states, LePage said.

The Legislature plans to reconvene Monday to take up the vetoed bills.
 

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