As Maine’s recreational pot law stalls, lawmakers seek to revamp medical marijuana program

6 years ago

Watching the effort to create Maine’s recreational marijuana market has been a lot like observing a rocket take off from Cape Canaveral — lots of anticipation, waiting, and more than a few scrubbed launches.

But in Augusta there’s a quieter movement afoot that could significantly affect hundreds of Mainers in the state’s medical marijuana industry. It comes at a time when the recreational law appears to be taking a bite out of medical pot sales.

Alysia Melnick helped lead the 2016 campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana, and she’s kept a close eye on the Legislature’s tortured efforts to get the market up and running.

But lately she’s been spending a lot of time in the Health and Human Services Committee, where lawmakers are working to overhaul the medical cannabis program.

“There’s a lot of medical marijuana cultivators who have their eye on the adult-use program,” Melnick says. “And as they’ve seen some things stall here, more focus has been put on the medical side.”

The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “As Maine’s recreational pot law stalls, lawmakers seek to revamp medical marijuana program,” an article by contributing writer Steve Mistler of Maine Public, please follow this link to the BDN online.