Maine election officers have accepted a poll initiative that, if handed, would eradicate the state’s roughly $250 million adult-use hashish business and impose strict new testing requirements on medical hashish to start accumulating signatures.
It’s the second ongoing citizen marketing campaign to cancel a authorized hashish business in New England.
The same effort in Massachusetts just lately claimed to have collected sufficient signatures to advance previous an preliminary stage amid accusations of elections fraud.
Maine medical marijuana would stay however with new guidelines
The Maine Secretary of State on Dec. 8 accepted the Act to Amend the Hashish Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Hashish Act to start accumulating signatures.
If it qualifies for the poll and is accepted by a majority vote, Maine’s adult-use hashish business would sundown on Jan. 1, 2028.
Current operators may transition again to medical marijuana, and private use and possession of as much as 2.5 ounces would stay authorized, as would medical marijuana.
Nevertheless, it will additionally require hashish sufferers and caregivers to submit their merchandise for testing and adjust to track-and-trace necessities.
That’s not at the moment required within the Maine medical marijuana market.
About 6% of Maine adult-use hashish that’s examined fails for banned contaminants, in accordance with the Maine Morning Star.
To qualify for the poll, the petition should accumulate roughly 68,000 legitimate signatures from registered voters by early February.
State data point out Colin Mack of Brunswick because the sponsor. Mack didn’t reply to a request for remark from the Morning Star.
Maine authorized hashish gross sales growing
Annual hashish gross sales on the state’s 266 licensed adult-use shops and medical marijuana dispensaries reached practically $244 million in 2024, in accordance with the state Workplace of Hashish Coverage.
Annual gross sales are on tempo to barely exceed that in 2025.
Maine legalized adult-use hashish in 2016.
