The concept of drive-thu pot sales and home delivery were among some of casualties of Maine’s recreational marijuana law, as state lawmakers put on their white aprons on Wednesday and proceeded to butcher the what’s what behind legal weed.
According to a report from the Portland Press Herald, a legislative committee ripped and cut some of the exciting elements out of Maine’s marijuana regulations yesterday, promising to tear more pages out of the 70-page bill by the end of Thursday.
It is necessary for the this panel to get all of the bone saw politics out of the way this week in order for the bill to be ready for the full legislature toward the end of October.
The Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee slashed a number of regulations from the proposal, including drive-up pot sales and home delivery. It also squashed a rule that would have allowed anyone who has been a resident of the state for at least six months to apply for a license to open a recreational marijuana business. That requirement, which would remain in effect until 2020, has now been raised to two years.
Other adjustments were made, including ones that prevent medical marijuana plants from being entered into the recreational market, the doubling of pot taxes, and a ban cannabis lounges until 2019.
However, the committee did put its seal of approval on a rule that would give local governments the freedom to expand the 12-plant limit on home grows to 18 plants.
The committee is expected to continue hashing out the regulations for the state’s recreational pot market this week in hopes of delivering a final draft later next month.
The proposed changes go against the grain of the initiative that more than 50 percent of the state’s voters supported in the 2016 election.
