Just as cannabis legalization has swept through the West Coast, the northeastern region of New England is also riding the green wave. While Massachusetts struggles to implement its own voter-approved recreational marijuana system, the neighboring state of Maine has sought out a renowned pot expert to help craft cannabis regulations. In order to ensure that The Pine Tree State implements recreational cannabis the right way, Maine’s Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee is taking advice from Andrew Freedman, also known as the “marijuana czar” of Colorado.
Freedman, who is the first Director of Marijuana Coordination in Colorado, spent over an hour meeting and sharing data on recreational cannabis use with the committee. A number of his findings help quell the fears that some lawmakers have had about legalization, particularly regarding increased use among the youth. According to his stats, cannabis consumption among both adults and teens has not risen alongside legalization.
However, there were also some statistics that could be viewed in a negative light. For instance, Colorado has seen an increase in hospital emergency room visits, primarily due to tourists underestimating the potency of edibles. Freedman also expressed that his state was overly lax on personal cultivation laws, ultimately allowing individuals to grow too much marijuana, eventually paving the way for cannabis to be illegally sold across state lines.
While the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee certainly sees value in Freedman’s information, the cannabis expert warns that you need 10 years of data to properly observe trends. Unlike Colorado, Maine has the advantage of studying the success and failure of other state cannabis regulations. Still, the marijuana czar explained to the committee members that the first set of rules would not be the last.
In his view, the best way to craft regulations is to constantly take the community and data into consideration, essentially viewing the creation of a recreational market as a trail-and-error process. Maine lawmakers plan to draft up the cannabis laws by the end of this month, and will hold a public hearing regarding them by September 2016.
