FRENCHVILLE, Maine — Northern Maine’s only state-licensed medical marijuana facility has until the middle of this month to appeal the denial of a municipal medical marijuana cultivation facility permit.
The Frenchville planning board denied the permit to Safe Alternatives at its regular May 9 meeting based on several incomplete sections of the business’ permit application.
Safe Alternatives has been operating under a state license since it became one of eight medical marijuana dispensaries approved by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services in June 2010.
Neither Leo Trudel, co-founder of Safe Alternatives, nor officials with the DHHS medical marijuana task force returned calls for comment.
Information was not readily available on how much, if any, medical marijuana is currently produced by Safe Alternatives, how the business is dispensing any medical marijuana or in what quantity.
“The planning board’s decision was based on [Safe Alternatives’] incomplete application,” Town Manager Casey Cote said Friday.
Specifically, Cote said the business had failed to secure an approved cultivation facility inspection by the town’s code enforcement officer; had not obtained the proper boundary line variance; and had failed to pay the required $500 permit fee.
In addition, Casey said the planning board determined Safe Alternatives had not satisfied the town’s security requirements by retaining video surveillance tapes for 90 days.
According to the minutes of the May 9 planning board meeting, town code enforcement officer Bob Ouellet attempted to conduct his inspection of the facility on May 1, but was denied entrance to the
Safe Alternatives facility by Trudel.
“Safe Alternatives has no permit from the town at all,” Cote said. “Right now they are falling under the state’s permit.”
Cote added she is unsure how Safe Alternatives can continue to operate without a municipal permit.
“That really is the big question,” she said. “DHHS has said they can continue to operate but as far as ‘home rule’ authority extends is a gray area.”
The town has retained an attorney to look into Safe Alternatives’ business operations in light of the permit denial.
Residents will vote on an ordinance regulating medical marijuana cultivation and a dispensary in their community during a special town meeting June 4.
Among the items in that ordinance is a requirement that any future permitting fees be paid up front.
“There have been a lot of time and staff hours spent on this,” Cote said. “It would be nice to have some monetary compensation.”
Cote said the town’s proposed ordinance, though stricter than the state’s regulations, would allow Safe Alternatives to operate within the municipality.
I wonder how many alcohol dispensaries (grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stores, etc.) they have.
Irrelevant. Besides, how many of those have denied the code enforcement officer access to their facilities?
to bad the code enforcement officer doesn’t have the right to inspect under state law. read the law at dhhs, dlrs
well since the law states that towns and municipalities cannot make a stricter law than the state, this should be easily decided.
You got that backwards, they can’t make a law more permissive that the states.
Maybe the town should contact the DEA, I bet they would rather have the CEO visit then them.
why when the dea has no authority?
Marijuana is still a violation of federal law. I am sure of the town appealed to the feds saying they were not following the town ordinance the feds could help out. Right now they look the other way, but they don’t have to. They have started shutting down business in CA because they got out of hand.
you are correct marijuana is a violation of federal law, except that there is a protocol that is followed, not to mention the feds have a memo out saying, anything over 1000 plants and over 2 million a year in profit is their breakpoint. I would welcome open dea involvement, as it would move the discussion along. But frenchville is small time and not worth their involvement as it would not bring money into the federal coffers. Not to mention at that point it would bring to the court system the dispensary movement in Maine. As i am willing to fight that fight and help Mr Trudell in any way that I can, I say bring your worst. At this point however with current state law the town has no standing, and Mr. Trudell is in compliance with all state laws. If you have a different opinion that is fine, but not everyone in this business is a criminal.
Frenchville use to be such a nice town
If state law says you can’t be more restrictive than the state law, and they meet the requirements of the state law, the town can go pound sand.
see above
This is simple, the town granted a permit because they had no choice. They then revoked a legal valid permit, passed retroactive laws (totally illegal) and are now trying to force closure by trying to enforce these new laws. And, they plan to continue to pass retroactive laws to counter any legal action by whoever.
c’mon, let’s have some common sense, please. this ban is ridiculous, the only reason m.j. is illegal is either because it would be too easy for everyone to have their own crop and there would be no capitalism angle or big pharma has yet to discover how they can manipulate and duplicate its compounds so they can charge us for a what we could already get from a weed.
Or maybe it is that fully 80 to 90 percent of those in the USA with a medical refer card have no real need for it other then they wanna get high. Also it is still illegal under federal law. How many folks on medical refer where smoking it BEFORE they got a doctors note?
Perhaps the local growers of illegal product just don’t want the competition.
Lame. Go home and have a few shots of Canadian whiskey and then condemn people that have the need for medical marijuana. Lord, Frenchville….these dummies are likely related to me too.
Sorry, Frenchville, but I think you’re pretty much screwed. Even if you gained some traction on this, they will simply cry ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’, just as the methadone clinics do, and they win. As I’ve been saying for years, quit wasting time and money on this; legalize it, regulate and tax it the same as liquor, and move on to more important things.
Could you provide a citation to any reliable source to back up your claim that the ADA has forced towns to allow methadone clinics?
I have never heard that before.
A recent BDN story regarding a methadone clinic in, I believe, Rockland. The town and it’s citizens don’t want it there, so the company that wants to open it there is filing suit under ADA.
In other words, no, you do not know of even one single case where ADA has resulted in what you indicated.
Anyone can file suit. That doesn’t even begin to mean they would win.
Sounds to me like Frenchville is right on track. The State may give you a permit to operate a business but that does not mean that you can go into a town and set up shop anyway you want. You are still required to follow the rules and ordinances of the town. You will also find that in Frencville, just like in any other community the Code Enforcement office has the right to enter and inspect any facility before issuing an occupancy permit. I am also not surprised that Safe Alternatives isn’t paying their bills. As expected, a great many people are not happy with the high prices or the quality of their product and are now going else where. Like no one saw that coming!
the town granted a permit because they had no choice. They then revoked a legal valid permit, passed retroactive laws (totally illegal) and are now trying to force closure by trying to enforce these new laws. And, they plan to continue to pass retroactive laws to counter any legal action by whoever.