Marijuana Information Public Forum New Gloucester

Municipal Opt-In Adult Use Marijuana Law
28-B M.R.S. §402 –“. . . a municipality may not accept as complete the person’s request for local authorization unless . . . The legislative body of the municipality has voted to adopt a new ordinance, amend an existing ordinance or approve a warrant article allowing some or all types of marijuana establishments within the municipality, including the type of marijuana establishment the person seeks to operate.”
Medical Marijuana Law
22 M.R.S. §2429-D –“A municipality may not . . . authorize caregiver retail stores, registered dispensaries, marijuana testing facilities and manufacturing facilities unless the municipal legislative body . . . has voted to adopt or amend an ordinance or approve a warrant article allowing caregiver retail stores, registered dispensaries, marijuana testing facilities, or manufacturing facilities, as applicable, to operate within the municipality.”<br>

Municipal Opt-InDefault is prohibition Unless a municipality’s legislative body has voted to allow a particular type of marijuana establishment identified by either statute, that type of establishment is prohibited in that municipality.<br>

Municipal Opt-InDefault is prohibition Adult Use Establishments
Adult use retail stores
Cultivation facilities
Manufacturing facilities
Testing facilities Medical Establishments
Caregiver retail stores
Registered dispensaries
Manufacturing facilities
Testing facilities<br>

Adult Use retail stores A marijuana store is a facility authorized to sell marijuana and marijuana products directly to consumers.
Marijuana stores are also authorized to sell marijuana paraphernalia, and other non-consumable products (like clothing), as well as consumable products that do not contain marijuana, (like soda or candy).
Marijuana stores may not sell tobacco or alcohol products that do not also contain marijuana. Adult use marijuana sales with the use of vending machines, drive-through windows, internet-based platforms, and deliveries, are prohibited. The co-location of adult use and medical marijuana retail stores is also prohibited.<br>

Adult Use Cultivation facilities A cultivation facility is a facility licensed to grow, prepare, and package marijuana. Cultivation licensees are authorized to sell the marijuana they grow and package to other establishments licensed under the Adult Use Marijuana Act
Cultivation facilities may not sell marijuana to registered caregivers or dispensaries distributing marijuana pursuant to Maine’s medical marijuana laws. They also cannot sell marijuana to consumers unless they have a separate marijuana store license.
A cultivation licensee may fall within one of 4 tiers of cultivation facility licenses, depending on the plant canopy square footage.<br>

Adult Use Manufacturing facilities A products manufacturing facility is authorized to blend, infuse, or extract components of the marijuana plant to make marijuana products such as ointments, tinctures, or edibles, for sale to marijuana stores or other marijuana products manufacturing facilities.
Products manufacturing sometimes requires extraction of marijuana concentrate using hazardous solvents such as butane or methyl alcohol.
A products manufacturing facility that is going to perform this type of extraction must obtain certification from a professional engineer that the proposed extraction method is safe.<br>

Adult Use Testing facilities The purpose of a testing facility is to conduct research, analysis and testing of marijuana and marijuana products for contamination, potency, and safety.
As the quality assurance arm of the industry, testing facility licensees are strictly prohibited from engaging in other aspects of the adult use or medical marijuana industry
Testing facility licensees may not be registered caregivers, or have any interest in a medical marijuana dispensary or any other adult use marijuana establishment.
Testing facilities must be certified by the Department of Health and Human Services and Maine Center for Disease Control, and must be accredited under standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization.<br>

Medical Caregiver retail stores "Caregiver retail store" means a store that has attributes generally associated with retail stores, including, but not limited to, a fixed location, a sign, regular business hours, accessibility to the public and sales of goods or services directly to a consumer, and that is used by a registered caregiver to offer marijuana plants or harvested marijuana for sale to qualifying patients.<br>

Medical Registered dispensaries Registered dispensary" or "dispensary" means an entity registered under section 2425‑A that acquires, possesses, cultivates, manufactures, delivers, transfers, transports, sells, supplies or dispenses marijuana plants or harvested marijuana or related supplies and educational materials to qualifying patients and the caregivers of those patients.<br>

Medical Manufacturing facilities Vertically integrated caregivers and dispensaries can manufacture products from their own marijuana by virtue of state registration
Manufacturing facility registration needed to manufacture products from other caregiver/dispensary/patient’s marijuana, or if using inherently hazardous substances (IHS)
Vertically integrated caregivers/dispensaries only need state registration if using IHS or manufacturing for others
Some medical marijuana manufacturing may occur legally in municipalities that have not opted in to medical marijuana manufacturing facilities<br>

Medical Testing facilities Marijuana testing facility.  "Marijuana testing facility" means a public or private laboratory that’s authorized to analyze contaminants in and the potency and cannabinoid profile of samples provided by qualifying patients, caregivers, dispensaries and manufacturing facilities<br>

Medical Marijuana Cultivation No such thing as “Medical Cultivation Facilities”
Medical marijuana cultivation allowed by virtue of state registration
Municipalities may not prohibit or limit the number of caregivers
No way for municipalities to opt in to, or prohibit, medical marijuana cultivation –but they can regulate it<br>

Pre-Existing Facilities Some Medical Marijuana Establishments are Grandfathered
Municipalities cannot prohibit caregiver stores, dispensaries, manufacturing facilities and testing facilities in operation with municipal approval before December 13, 2018
“Municipal approval” means examination or approval of the establishment for its medical marijuana use (e.g. conditional use or site plan approval)
Municipal approval is NOT a building or electrical permit<br>

What New Gloucester can do: New Gloucester can opt in or keep all marijuana prohibited (not to include caregivers)
If we opt-in we are able to limit where marijuana establishments (not to include caregivers) are able to go (for example if we chose to allow recreational use cultivation we could limit it to just the farm and forest district)
We do not need to opt in to all facets of adult use (recreational) or medical marijuana (for example we could choose to allow recreational use cultivation and still prohibit adult use retail stores)<br>

contact Natalie Thomsen,  Town Planner
Town of New Gloucester
385 Intervale Road
New Gloucester, ME  04260
207-926-4126, Ext. 4
townplanner@newgloucester.com<br>