I will leave it for now and if anyone objects I can go from there. I thought it was really funny that the police found this guys grow by the smell and then they stick all of it in their evidence and don’t even consider what it is going to smell like in their place!
The PD must be even stankier.
@Aquaponic_Dumme I should have caught that right off on the location. I do all my running up and down the coast we have a place in Maine we go to all the time. I used to hunt up North of Moosehead. Love the state!
NH aint so bad either.
That’s too funny…!
(this is a lesson on filtration)
Plus one for NH, had 20 acres in Derry up until the divorce a few years ago, current girlfriend is up in the White Mountains (bit of a hassle 
I think we need to start a NH thread!
Proposed marijuana rules would let adults buy online and at drive-thrus
By Penelope Overton
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 identification to the window or delivery employee to prove they are at least 21 years old.
Supporters say such retail conveniences are already available to the state’s alcohol industry and will help Maine’s new legal marijuana market compete with a thriving illegal market. But opponents, including a leader of the marijuana committee, warn against making it too easy to buy a drug that is still illegal under federal law, and too hard for new state regulators to track sales.
“If Maine allows it for alcohol, we see no reason why it shouldn’t be allowed for marijuana, the safer substance, so long as Maine puts in place reasonable regulations to protect public safety and the consumer,” said David Boyer, director of the Maine chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project. “The voters want it regulated and taxed like alcohol. The rules should be the same.”
TOO SOON FOR EASY PURCHASING?
But state Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta said allowances for drive-thrus and home delivery should be stripped from the proposed bill to decrease the risk that delivered marijuana will end up in the hands of underage users or residents of towns that have adopted a local ban on marijuana sales. Delivered marijuana might more easily be diverted across state lines, which could draw unwanted federal attention to Maine’s newly legal recreational market, he said.
“Given the fact that about half the people in the state voted against legalization, I think we ought to go slow and be cautious in the beginning,” said Katz, Republican co-chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation. “But this is a legislative process. We reach decisions collectively. This is just a draft. I anticipate a vigorous debate. We’ve still got a ways to go yet.”
The committee’s bill, which sets up the regulatory framework for commercial cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and sales, will be the subject of a public hearing at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Room 228 at the State House in Augusta. The committee will reconvene Sept. 27 and 28 to discuss the bill. If the committee approves it, the full Legislature will likely consider it next month.
BUYERS FACE 20% SALES TAX
The bill essentially outlines how the new market would work, from who could grow recreational marijuana and the cost of a license, to the maximum amount of THC allowed in an edible marijuana product and how much marijuana would be taxed. The committee had hoped adult-use licensing would begin in February, but now says it is unlikely to hit that deadline.
Although advocates support drive-thru, online and home delivery options and hope the language will stay in the bill, they say they won’t draw a line in the sand over them if they put the bill’s future at risk. The proposed 20 percent sales tax rate is a much bigger burden for recreational cannabis users than having to make face-to-face, in-store purchases, said Paul McCarrier, president of Legalize Maine.
“Back in July, the committee agreed that delivery would help combat the black market,” said McCarrier, whose advocacy group helped pass the statewide ballot measure that legalized adult-use marijuana in Maine. “We know that convenience is one of the big reasons that somebody turns to the black market, but price is an even bigger one. That is our top priority, keeping it affordable for Mainers.”
The Marijuana Legalization Act approved by citizen initiative last fall did not address drive-thru windows or online cannabis sales and delivery. Something that is not prohibited in state law is usually legal by default. Although these provisions were not mentioned in the initiative, supporters argue that the legalization campaign was based on the belief that marijuana should be treated like alcohol.
In Maine, stores that sell alcohol can have drive-up windows and alcohol can be purchased online for delivery by the liquor store to a consumer’s home, said spokesman David Heidrichs of the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, which oversees the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations and will soon regulate the sale of adult-use marijuana.
A liquor store cannot deliver alcohol to one of Maine’s so-called dry towns, even if the store is located in a town that permits liquor sales, said Heidrichs, because the point of sale in such a transaction is actually the consumer’s home, and local law applies. It is unclear if local marijuana bans would prevent home delivery of online marijuana purchases.
WHAT SOME OTHER STATES DO
Five states allow recreational marijuana sales now. In Oregon, state law allows home delivery of up to $3,000 worth of adult-use cannabis, but many municipalities forbid it, including Portland. Washington doesn’t allow drive-thru windows. Alaska prohibits internet sales and home delivery, but its law does not address drive-thrus. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently killed a home delivery bill there.
Colorado’s former “marijuana czar,” Andrew Freedman, said it might be easier for a state like Maine, which is new to the regulatory game and has the advantage of launching with the latest seed-to-sale tracking systems, to consider allowing conveniences like these than it is in states with an established adult-use regulatory system.
“In Colorado, we thought it would be too hard to maintain the integrity of what was then the country’s first-in-the-nation, seed-to-sale marijuana tracking system,” said Freedman, who left his state job in January to launch a Denver-based cannabis consulting firm. “We did not want to do anything to make it harder for our regulators to do their job, and in-store sales was a big part of that strategy.”
THE LEGAL AND ILLEGAL MARKETS
Colorado allows drive-thru liquor stores and home delivery of alcohol purchased online, but Freedman said alcohol and marijuana are not the same thing – especially in the eyes of federal authorities, who could at any time decide to crack down on states that allow medical or adult-use marijuana sales. Demonstrating a robust regulatory system is one way for a legalized state to avoid that, he said.
While states should take steps to encourage black-market producers and consumers to go legitimate, they shouldn’t try to make the legal and illegal marijuana worlds the same, Freedman said, or they risk losing many of the safety and public health benefits of a state-regulated market. But as technology improves and more states legalize, this kind of innovation is likely to happen, he said.
California will likely allow drive-thru windows, online sales and home delivery. A draft version of regulations released this year allows for them, but these regulations had to be pulled last month and may be rewritten because of a rider attached to the annual budget bill calling for the merger of the state’s medical and adult-use markets. Most of the draft rules are expected to stand, however.
POT DELIVERY ROBBERIES IN NEVADA
In Nevada, early attempts to innovate hit a wall after a rash of marijuana delivery robberies.
The state’s temporary startup rules have allowed home delivery since retail sales started July 1, but regulators decided to cut it out of the permanent regulations they proposed in August, saying the possibility of fraud and driver robberies was too high.
But store owners there are fighting the change. Nevada regulators are expected to release an updated version of its draft rules later this month.
Massachusetts is a few steps ahead of Maine in launching its adult-use market, which voters there approved through citizen initiative last fall. State lawmakers rewrote the law in July, but the new version doesn’t mention drive-thrus, delivery or online sales. It will be up to the newly appointed Cannabis Control Commission to consider these issues before adult-use sales are likely to begin in the summer.
@Willd @Screwauger @Aquaponic_Dumme @mainah @oldpro
remind me of any other Mainers or just tag them for me!
From the Portland Press Herald; September 21, 2017
I’ll have to give this a closer read when I have a minute
it’s really just another non-article. I think by all the out of work “Seinfeld” writers!
20% is a heavy tax!!!
what is the tax rate of booze around there?
We haven’t had any news from Maine in awhile and then there is this…
Gov. LePage Wants Delay On Pot Sales Until 2019
“This 11th-hour attempt to wreak havoc by Gov. LePage and Rep. Fredette is obstructionism,” one lawmakers said.
By Associated Press (Patch National Staff) - Updated Oct 20, 2017 4:15 pm ET
Gov. LePage Wants Delay On Pot Sales Until 2019
AUGUSTA, ME — Voters in 2016 approved a law to legalize possession and sales of recreational marijuana. Possession became legal this year, and lawmakers have delayed marijuana sales to at least February 2018.
But those anxiously awaiting the openings of legal dispensaries may have to wait even longer.
Maine’s Republican governor is pushing for lawmakers to delay the start of legal recreational marijuana sales instead of rewriting the voter-approved marijuana law.
Republican House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, who also supports a delay, said lawmakers haven’t had enough time to read the 70-page bill that would rewrite the voter-approved law. The bill also would add taxes and delay sales until 2019.
Fredette is sponsoring a bill from Gov. Paul LePage that would only delay sales.
The governor’s office said LePage won’t comment on legislation until it hits his desk. LePage this year has said he’s urging U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to put the hammer down on states that have recreational marijuana.
The Maine Legislature is set to return Monday to vote on a re-write offered by a joint legislative committee handling marijuana implementation. The committee’s co-chairs said LePage and Fredette’s move disrespects Maine voters and the committee’s nine months of work.
“This 11th-hour attempt to wreak havoc by Gov. LePage and Rep. Fredette is obstructionism for no good reason,” Republican Sen. Roger Katz said.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an advocacy group opposed to marijuana legalization, welcomed the governor’s bill and said it makes no sense to “jam” the committee’s bill Monday. The organization’s Maine chair Scott Gagnon said he wants to change the voter-approved law to prohibit pot social clubs and prevent young Mainers from entering retail pot shops.
Advocacy group Legalize Maine opposed the committee’s bill over concerns that it would make it harder to set up marijuana businesses. The bill would require towns to “opt in” to the adult-use marijuana market.
But the state chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project is lambasting the delay offered by Fredette and the governor.
Its director, David Boyer, said his group supported the committee’s marijuana bill despite some concerns. He said the committee’s months-long process was transparent and fair.
“The original delay and moratorium, we were assured it would be the only one,” he said. “We don’t understand the need for it or why Rep. Fredette is putting it in.”
He said Maine is now lagging behind other states where voters in 2016 said approved legalizing recreational marijuana, such as Nevada, California and Massachusetts.
The governor’s bill follows concern from the LePage administration that the committee’s marijuana bill doesn’t address issues like the state’s existing medical marijuana program.
Maine’s medical marijuana program will “be a less expensive, easier and less regulated entry into the retail and unregulated markets,” wrote Scott Lever, a state deputy commissioner of health services, in written testimony opposing the legislative committee’s bill. Lever said the Department of Health and Human Services has.
The state Department of Administrative and Financial Services has also estimated that Maine will need to add 64 positions to implement the marijuana law, including 30 in the alcohol and lottery bureau.
By MARINA VILLENEUVE, Associated Press
And there you have it @bob31 @Willd @mainah
Chickensh*t legislature
Maine House sustains LePage veto of marijuana sales bill
By Christopher Cousins, BDN Staff • November 6, 2017 4:55 pm
I have not had time to even digest this but it appears by the headline it only relates to retail recreational SALES. Not cultivation or use I hope.
Any idea how many millions in tax revenues he just screwed the state out of?
And thats why I grow my own! :middlefingertothegovt:
He hung his hat on Trump and Sessions a long time ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants them to make some sort of statement Federally so he can continue on with the “this ain’t the Obama Administration blah blah blah.”
I agree @bob31 it really doesn’t effect me as I doubt I will be a frequent flyer in the shops but i don’t like them messing with the People’s choice.
I never liked lapage or Trump. Especially trump, all he is looking out for is the almighty dollar, and the people lining HIS and his buddies pockets. TRUMP IS A CHUMP!
Just what I need to read on veterans day. Don’t forget he is our president, elected by the people. He deserves respect just like the last president and the next one.
As my Commander in Chief I salute him just like I saluted former President Obama.
So here’s what happens with Maine rec MJ so far.
Jobs…
https://maine.craigslist.org/trd/d/skilled-cannabis-farmer/6459865364.html
that is a + right out the gate…jobs!
From the Press Herald 16 January 2018
Legalization panel makes concession, votes to delay social cannabis clubs until 2023
The move is intended to shore up political support for implementing recreational marijuana rules, but advocates say it ignores the will of Maine voters.
BY PENELOPE OVERTONSTAFF WRITER
In their first major concession to Gov. Paul LePage, lawmakers crafting rules for Maine’s legal adult-use cannabis industry agreed Tuesday to ban social clubs until 2023.
The Legislature’s Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee voted 5-1 to delay social club licensing for five years in hopes of pacifying those who last year voted against a bill that would have launched the state’s recreational market. Committee members said they don’t want Maine to lead the way on social clubs, and would prefer to learn from the experience of other states before implementing their own rules.
Groups on opposite sides of cannabis issue craft plan to save legalization bill
“Other states have wanted to do it, but they still haven’t,” said Sen. Joyce Maker, R-Calais. “We need to get (the bill) passed, then we need to find out what the problems with social clubs might be. (An extension) will give us time to know what we’re doing. I feel that it is imperative that we do the right thing, and we don’t know enough to do the right thing now. This way, we’d have the bill done, our rules made, and then if we want to go ahead with social clubs, we can.”
A final vote on the legislation is not expected before February.
The committee’s first bill would have begun the licensing of commercial cultivation, manufacturing and sales in 2018, but pushed the beginning of social club licensing off until June 2019. That bill passed both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by LePage, who worried that a state recreational market would violate federal law, lead to an increase in impaired driving, not generate enough revenue to pay for itself and send the wrong message to young people.
Although the governor didn’t mention social clubs, committee leaders believe social club licensing figured into LePage’s concerns about impaired driving. After all, those who consume marijuana in a social club eventually have to leave, critics say. They say some lawmakers who voted against last year’s bill – it fell 17 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto – were hesitant about Maine becoming the first state in the nation to legalize social clubs.
“I think we really need them – ultimately, people need a place to go – but if this is a part of moving this bill forward, I’m in agreement,” said Rep. Lydia Blume, D-York.
WATCHING OTHER STATES
With a delay, Maine lawmakers will be able to learn from the experience of Massachusetts, the first state to create a policy allowing for public marijuana use, and cities in Colorado, Nevada and California, where local municipalities can approve social clubs because state laws do not expressly forbid them or license them. In Massachusetts, where recreational sales are set to begin in July, the state cannabis commission in December approved a marijuana café policy.
Denver voters approved an ordinance allowing customers to use marijuana in permitted cafés and restaurants in 2016, with smoking allowed outside in designated areas and smokeless consumption allowed indoors. But demanding conditions, including a ban on the sale of alcohol in these permitted marijuana clubs, and zoning restrictions that prohibit them within 1,000 feet of schools, recovery centers or day care facilities, meant it took a full year before someone applied for the first public-use license.
Maine social club supporters lamented the committee’s concession Tuesday. They argue that Maine voters approved social clubs at referendum in 2016 and lawmakers should respect that rather than try to repeatedly delay them. Many complained last year when the committee voted to single out social clubs for a different time line than other parts of the Marijuana Legalization Act, and then again when it voted to restrict social club marijuana use to smokeless consumption only.
Social clubs are to marijuana what bars are to alcohol, advocates argued. If one is permitted, taxed and regulated, the other should be, too.
They noted the committee decision was made by just six out of the 17 members, and hope that the full committee will reconsider the decision before a final vote on the legislation. Many committee members have other committee assignments that demand their attention on Tuesdays, forcing some to attend, leave and rejoin Tuesday workshop sessions, a committee clerk said.
“If the committee’s straw vote remains, Maine adults will have to wait at least five years before their decision to allow limited social consumption of marijuana is finally implemented,” said David Boyer, director of the Maine chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project. “This decision encourages tourists and otherwise law-abiding adults to break the law and consume marijuana in public. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, adults will be trusted enough to consume marijuana socially as soon as this summer.”
Other legalization supporters say that delaying social club licensing is “one part of a many-part process to get to ‘yes,’ ” said Paul McCarrier, president of Legalize Maine, the marijuana advocacy group that wrote the Marijuana Legalization Act citizen initiative approved by voters at referendum. Rep. Don Marean, R-Hollis, said the 2023 delay “will make this much easier to sell in my caucus” – the House Republican faction that upheld LePage’s veto last fall.
“This moratorium will give us breathing room,” Marean said. “This sends a strong message that we, too, are concerned about social clubs and we want to give the industry plenty of time to get their feet on the ground.”
Social club opponents, including some of Maine’s leading anti-legalization advocates, cheered the committee decision.
“What this will do is keep Maine’s roads safer,” said Scott Gagnon, an addiction prevention specialist and director of the Maine chapter of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “It is unwise to encourage people to drive to premises to consume marijuana until we have reliable, science-based technology or protocols to test impairment.”