Medical marijuana caregivers in Maine are speaking out against proposed rules that would, among other things, require them to electronically track their products across the supply chain and adopt 24-hour video surveillance in some places of their business.
Regulators at the state Office of Marijuana Policy have said that the changes are meant to align the medical marijuana program with a series of new state laws that have been passed in the last few years.
Regulated recreational marijuana retailers in Maine sold $1.4 million worth of cannabis in the first month of adult-use legalization, which kicked off on Oct. 9.
The preliminary, unaudited sales data from Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP) covers 31 days of sales through Nov. 8.
Roughly $260,000 of those sales were made on the four-day long weekend following the market’s debut, according to previously released figures from the state regulator.
Marijuana businesses in Maine can begin recreational sales on October 9, the state’s cannabis regulatory body announced on Friday.
This comes nearly four years after voters approved a legalization ballot measure—a significant delay in implementation compared to California, Massachusetts and Nevada, which also legalized for adult-use on the same day in 2016.
The start of Maine’s long-awaited recreational marijuana market was officially postponed on Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A new timeline won’t be announced until public health experts deem it appropriate to do so, state regulators said.
The postponement was expected.
The Maine Office of Marijuana Policy characterized the move as postponing the “spring debut” of recreational cannabis sales. The agency indicated in March that the launch could be delayed beyond June.