Ingrid Martinez is terminally ill and undergoing chemotherapy. Medical marijuana helps her alleviate her nausea and pain. Martinez, 50, a Lowell resident who worked in medical coding before she got sick, travels to Maine every three weeks or so to buy marijuana. Although she has a Massachusetts medical marijuana card, she said marijuana costs too […]
maine marijuana
Slow rollout in marijuana sales costs Maine revenue and jobs
From legalization to legal sales, Maine is inching toward the slowest adult-use marijuana rollout in the U.S., with economists saying the three-year wait for stores to open will have cost Maine more than $82 million in taxes and 6,100 industry jobs. The delay has caused some investors and industry experts to take their dollars and […]
Marijuana testing labs: Will Maine have enough?
Maine is finalizing its testing rules for recreational marijuana, spelling out what a lab must do to get a state license and what safety and potency checks must be done on any marijuana products before they can be sold when the market opens in March. The proposed rules cover everything from how samples are collected (by the […]
Maine on track for legal marijuana in 2020
Maine marijuana enthusiasts will probably be able to purchase their preferred products in retail stores by March 2020 after years of waiting. Voters approved legal adult-use marijuana at the polls in November 2016, and the road to legal sales has been long and bumpy. But a key act passed by the Legislature is now in […]
Confusion reigns as Maine rolls out its marijuana tracking system
The state marijuana industry didn’t like what it saw when it got its first look at Maine’s new track-and-trace system Monday: hundreds and hundreds of 25-cent tags required to catalog every plant’s path to pre-rolled joint, vape cartridge or infused candy. “This will drive prices through the roof,” said medical marijuana caregiver Dawson Julia of […]
Maine hopes to avoid pitfalls during marijuana legalization push
Sales of recreational marijuana in Maine are on track to begin next March, and the state is looking to learn from mistakes that other states have made in legalizing the drug. The state’s voters chose to legalize adult use marijuana in November 2016, and months of delays and political squabbles have caused the implementation of […]
Maine’s marijuana dilemma: ‘Cannabiz’ poised to grow, but in a holding pattern
Twenty-five years ago, Maine’s marijuana proprietors were more likely to be named in a local police blotter than the pages of Mainebiz. But today, Patricia Rosi, CEO of Wellness Connection of Maine, proudly talks about her company’s business in medical-use cannabis, which Maine legalized in 1999. “This is a booming industry,” she says. Wellness Connection […]
Maine releases draft rules for its recreational marijuana market
More than two years after residents voted to legalize recreational marijuana, Maine released draft rules Monday that detail how the state’s new adult-use market woud be launched, monitored and regulated by the Office of Marijuana Policy. The state released the rules in response to a Freedom of Access request by the Portland Press Herald. The […]
Maine Governor Lepage Says He Plans To Veto Recreational Marijuana Bill
Gov. Paul LePage plans to veto the recreational marijuana bill once it reaches his desk because it wouldn’t combine Maine’s medical and adult-use marijuana programs. The two-term Republican doesn’t want two regulatory systems and tax structures for different uses of the same plant, according to his press secretary, Julie Rabinowitz. “He was very explicit about […]
These 5 States Are Not Making It Easy To Legalize Marijuana
While many states are standing in the way of marijuana legalization, they usually aren’t outright sabotaging efforts to do so. Even politicians who don’t support cannabis end up implementing the new laws if the voters want it. But some states will go to extreme lengths to prevent the voters’ will from becoming law. Here are […]
Marijuana Extraction Specialists May Get Their Own Licenses In Maine
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 […]
Maine Employers Now Prohibited From Discrimination Against Marijuana Use
Workers in Maine no longer have to worry about getting in trouble at work for smoking marijuana in their off time. Employers in the state will no longer be able to discriminate against employees for using marijuana or marijuana by-products outside after new laws went into effect, and the state’s Labour Department has removed the drug from […]
Maine Medical Marijuana Numbers Down Eight Percent In 2017
Even though it has yet to record its first retail sale, Maine’s adult-use marijuana market appears to be taking a bite out of the state’s medical marijuana industry. In 2017, the first year that Mainers could legally grow their own recreational pot, the number of medical marijuana patient certifications, dispensary sales and registered caregivers all […]
Maine Medical Marijuana Caregivers Hit with Strict New Guidelines Leading to Concern
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. […]
Maine House Votes to Uphold Governor’s Veto of Retail Recreational Marijuana Regulations
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 […]
Maine Governor Vetoes Recreational Marijuana Legalization Bill Despite Voter Approval
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) on Friday vetoed a bill that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, nearly a year after residents voted to set up a system to sell and regulate the drug. In a letter, LePage said the law would set up a bifurcated system of recreational and medical sales — which […]
Maine’s Marijuana Laws up in the Air as Lawmakers Vote to Rewrite Law
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers returned to Augusta and took steps to decide the future of two voter-approved laws, one that legalized recreational marijuana and the other that created a first-of-its-kind ranked voting system for political candidates. Lawmakers on Monday voted to rewrite the state’s recreational marijuana law and delay a new voting system. The so-called […]
Maine Could See Retail Marijuana Online and at Drive-Thrus
Maine may make purchasing an ounce of marijuana almost as easy as buying a six-pack of beer. Proposed adult-use cannabis regulations from the Legislature’s marijuana committee would allow licensed retail stores to sell pot from drive-up windows and over the internet. Like any other recreational marijuana consumer, drive-up and online customers would have to show […]
