Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Arguably one of the hottest tickets in Augusta this session is entry to the legislative committee rolling out Maine's recreational marijuana law. The group has one eye on signals coming from Washington about enforcement of the federal ban on pot, another on the intersection with the state's longstanding medical marijuana law, and is also looking at states like Washington and Colorado that have already blazed the path.
And taking a front row seat for this is state Rep. Lydia Blume, D-York, who was selected in January to be on the Legislature's Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation. The committee is charged with creating the rules and regulations governing the new marijuana law, passed by voters last November.
While personal possession of marijuana became legal for adults in January, implementation of commercial sales was postponed until February 2018, giving the committee a year to delve into issues such as law enforcement, licensing, regulation of cannabis products and sales tax collection.
Blume said the committee's work is pivotal toward creating a framework for a new industry that she feels has great potential. "I think it's a real opportunity for Maine that I would like to see done properly to protect kids and at the same time create jobs of Mainers."
She said she sought to join the committee because she thought it was important to have someone represent southern York County.
"We're a so-called border area to New Hampshire, which doesn't have legal recreational marijuana. People are going to come to Maine to buy pot, and I want to make sure the interests of our towns will be protected. Not that the towns can't protect themselves. They can. But because this is going to be a state law, I thought it was important to have geographical representation," she said.
Under the law, each town can decide whether or not it wants to allow retail sales — including storefront businesses, so-called "social clubs" that would function similar to bars that serve alcohol, and manufacturing facilities.
Locally, York, Kittery and Eliot are taking different approaches to that question. Kittery formed a recreational marijuana working group that is surveying residents and businesses and looking at potential zoning changes as it moves to collect data toward possible implementation. Eliot is expected to place "straw poll" questions before voters in June about whether to allow retail operations and social clubs. In York, voters will decide in May whether to outright ban all retail operations in town.
Blume wonders whether York is jumping the gun, and whether a temporary moratorium was the more prudent route to take at this point. The law proposes a state sales tax of up to 10 percent — on an industry some analysts predict could generate up to $250 million in sales in Maine by 2020. But the committee has heard testimony that resonated with Blume about possibly funneling some of that tax back to the towns in the form of a local option sales tax.
"Perhaps towns that do have adult use marijuana facilities and social clubs will get part of the tax back," she said. "I think that would be really helpful to towns and is something we should definitely consider," she said. "If towns are going to the trouble of policing these legal entities, that could cost money and time."
In her estimation, "it's premature pushing for a ban at this time when you don't know how it's going to be regulated."
The committee is also mindful of the messages coming from the U.S. Attorney General's office, she said. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in February he is "definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana," reminding states it's against federal law to distribute pot in the U.S.
"We are thinking about what's being said in Washington, even though there's not much we can do about it," she said.
But a hard federal line on pot could pose potential issues down the road. For instance, right now the committee is talking about setting up a system of testing labs.
"It would be really nice if we could use university labs or agricultural extension labs for that work, but they can't really touch anything related to marijuana because they get so much federal funding.
The committee is also working to keep medical marijuana separate from recreational marijuana.
"Medical marijuana may be looked at differently by the federal government, and we're moving ahead keeping that in mind," she said. "So I think at this point, the people on the committee are saying, 'We have to be careful.'"
The committee will be meeting throughout the year, even when the Legislature is not in session. And she said while the committee has an opportunity to shape a new industry in the state, its members are also mindful to protect the small grower.
The trick, she said, is to allow another crop in Maine without creating a framework that will allow the industry to be taken over by corporate interests.
"We have all this farmland, we have lots of water, and this is an agricultural product after all," she said. "We don't want to create barriers to market the product so that the small farmer is squeezed out."
She said she'd like to see the committee encourage the production of "craft cannabis," just like there are craft brewers.
"We're very interested in keeping the small growers. That's extremely important to us," she said.
She looks forward to the next eight months of work on a committee, she said, that has already shown itself to be comprised of hard-working legislators. And perhaps most importantly, "most of the people are keeping their minds open — which is an encouraging thought."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: State rep: Recreational pot 'a real opportunity for Maine' - News - fosters.com - Dover, NH
Author: Deborah McDermott
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit:
Website: fosters.com: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Dover, NH
And taking a front row seat for this is state Rep. Lydia Blume, D-York, who was selected in January to be on the Legislature's Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation. The committee is charged with creating the rules and regulations governing the new marijuana law, passed by voters last November.
While personal possession of marijuana became legal for adults in January, implementation of commercial sales was postponed until February 2018, giving the committee a year to delve into issues such as law enforcement, licensing, regulation of cannabis products and sales tax collection.
Blume said the committee's work is pivotal toward creating a framework for a new industry that she feels has great potential. "I think it's a real opportunity for Maine that I would like to see done properly to protect kids and at the same time create jobs of Mainers."
She said she sought to join the committee because she thought it was important to have someone represent southern York County.
"We're a so-called border area to New Hampshire, which doesn't have legal recreational marijuana. People are going to come to Maine to buy pot, and I want to make sure the interests of our towns will be protected. Not that the towns can't protect themselves. They can. But because this is going to be a state law, I thought it was important to have geographical representation," she said.
Under the law, each town can decide whether or not it wants to allow retail sales — including storefront businesses, so-called "social clubs" that would function similar to bars that serve alcohol, and manufacturing facilities.
Locally, York, Kittery and Eliot are taking different approaches to that question. Kittery formed a recreational marijuana working group that is surveying residents and businesses and looking at potential zoning changes as it moves to collect data toward possible implementation. Eliot is expected to place "straw poll" questions before voters in June about whether to allow retail operations and social clubs. In York, voters will decide in May whether to outright ban all retail operations in town.
Blume wonders whether York is jumping the gun, and whether a temporary moratorium was the more prudent route to take at this point. The law proposes a state sales tax of up to 10 percent — on an industry some analysts predict could generate up to $250 million in sales in Maine by 2020. But the committee has heard testimony that resonated with Blume about possibly funneling some of that tax back to the towns in the form of a local option sales tax.
"Perhaps towns that do have adult use marijuana facilities and social clubs will get part of the tax back," she said. "I think that would be really helpful to towns and is something we should definitely consider," she said. "If towns are going to the trouble of policing these legal entities, that could cost money and time."
In her estimation, "it's premature pushing for a ban at this time when you don't know how it's going to be regulated."
The committee is also mindful of the messages coming from the U.S. Attorney General's office, she said. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in February he is "definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana," reminding states it's against federal law to distribute pot in the U.S.
"We are thinking about what's being said in Washington, even though there's not much we can do about it," she said.
But a hard federal line on pot could pose potential issues down the road. For instance, right now the committee is talking about setting up a system of testing labs.
"It would be really nice if we could use university labs or agricultural extension labs for that work, but they can't really touch anything related to marijuana because they get so much federal funding.
The committee is also working to keep medical marijuana separate from recreational marijuana.
"Medical marijuana may be looked at differently by the federal government, and we're moving ahead keeping that in mind," she said. "So I think at this point, the people on the committee are saying, 'We have to be careful.'"
The committee will be meeting throughout the year, even when the Legislature is not in session. And she said while the committee has an opportunity to shape a new industry in the state, its members are also mindful to protect the small grower.
The trick, she said, is to allow another crop in Maine without creating a framework that will allow the industry to be taken over by corporate interests.
"We have all this farmland, we have lots of water, and this is an agricultural product after all," she said. "We don't want to create barriers to market the product so that the small farmer is squeezed out."
She said she'd like to see the committee encourage the production of "craft cannabis," just like there are craft brewers.
"We're very interested in keeping the small growers. That's extremely important to us," she said.
She looks forward to the next eight months of work on a committee, she said, that has already shown itself to be comprised of hard-working legislators. And perhaps most importantly, "most of the people are keeping their minds open — which is an encouraging thought."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: State rep: Recreational pot 'a real opportunity for Maine' - News - fosters.com - Dover, NH
Author: Deborah McDermott
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit:
Website: fosters.com: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Dover, NH