Tag: Maine

A Maine House committee is considering a bill to legalize psilocybin, allowing adults to access the psychedelic at licensed facilities while broadly ending the criminalization of personal use and possession of psilocybin. During a hearing before the legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday, members—two of whom disclosed personally using psilocybin in the past—discussed the psychedelics proposal, sponsored by Sen. Donna Bailey (D), who filed a similar version of the proposal in 2022 that passed the Senate but stalled out in… Read more.

Maine lawmakers are considering a proposal to legalize cannabis social clubs and other forms of on-site consumption, according to a Spectrum News report. Sponsored by state Rep. David Boyer (R-Poland), the proposal would establish a cannabis-based hospitality industry in Maine by giving tourists a place to legally consume. If approved, the bill would establish a “cannabis hospitality establishment license” that would need to be acquired before businesses could allow on-site consumption. LD 1952 appeared recently before the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. The… Read more.

Cannabis cultivation in the United States traces its roots to the early colonists, who cultivated hemp primarily for textile and rope production. However, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, cannabis found extensive `use as a patented medicinal remedy, with its formal inclusion in the United States Pharmacopeia occurring in 1850. In 1937, cannabis was criminalized. The criminalization of marijuana was influenced by a combination of political and racial factors and was achieved through the enactment of the Marijuana Tax… Read more.

The City Council in Portland, Maine, has voted to deprioritize the local enforcement of laws against psychedelic plants and fungi, adopting a resolution on Monday that emphasizes treating the use and possession of all controlled substances as a public health matter. The body voted 6–3 in favor of the resolution, which says that the arrest and prosecution of people for possession, use, cultivation for personal use or sharing without compensation should be the lowest law enforcement priority for the city.… Read more.

The Maine regulatory body overseeing the adult-use cannabis market is introducing new regulations to improve consumer accessibility. These modifications, driven by recent record-breaking sales, are primarily influenced by two legislative bills passed this year. One of these bills seeks to diminish the stigma surrounding cannabis. At the same time, the other aims to rectify an omission in a previous year's bill, which permitted cannabis sales at events like concerts and festivals. Maine, the way life should be, is the state slogan,… Read more.

According to a survey by Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP), more than 1,350 medical cannabis caregivers left the program from the end of 2021 to the end of January 2023.   The survey found a variety of factors led to the exodus, including business costs, banking registrations and fees, municipal and OCP regulations, oversupply, competition from the adult-use and unregulated markets, lack of testing and tracking, no wholesale relationships, no connection to patients, switching to adult-use operations, and becoming a dispensary employee.  The… Read more.

David Ortiz is probably best known around New England for hitting home runs for the Boston Red Sox. But the MLB Hall of Famer will soon be known by some Mainers for his cannabis company. 'Papi Cannabis' recently launched products in Massachusetts, and starting Thursday, they will be on sale in Maine. Ortiz partnered with JAR Cannabis to help the expansion into Vacationland. "It was a little bit surreal the way the whole process started," JAR Co-Founder Joel Pepin said. “Even if… Read more.