Governor LePage has certified the vote on the legalization of marijuana in Maine, which is now going into effect on January 30, 2017. It will be legal to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow your own six plants. There is no system in place to distribute recreational marijuana. It will be legal to give it away.
A number of municipalities, including our clients in Augusta, Brunswick and Windham, have enacted moratoria against the development of retail businesses and social clubs. This allows Towns to determine whether to ban retail sales and social clubs and to decide whether there are good reasons to treat retail differently from other retail stores and social clubs differently than bars. At least one town, Oakland, has enacted a ban because it believed it did not have the authority to enact a moratorium because it did not have an adequate Comprehensive Plan.
At this point there is no great benefit nor downside to enacting a moratorium. This is because under the law, the Legislature has nine months to establish a system for legal sales and social clubs and will need to correct some of the errors in the law, including a loophole pointed out by Attorney General Janet Mills, which could be read to allow sales of marijuana to people under the age of 21. There will be an intense lobbying effort in the upcoming Legislature by numerous parties, including the established dispensaries, caregivers and other interested parties, to make changes to the law. The Governor has already proposed a one-year moratorium. Many people think the Department of Agriculture is not the best agency to administer the program. How will the medical marijuana law be affected? MMA has already put in a bill to clarify municipal home rule authority to regulate medical marijuana.
This blog will track the process of the legalization bill and other marijuana and municipal related issues through the Legislature on a weekly basis.
Updates and commentary from Preti Flaherty's municipal law attorneys.
