YORK, Maine — The Marijuana Policy Project has decided not to appeal a Superior Court judge’s decision allowing York to deny their effort to put a marijuana legalization measure on the ballot.
Interim Town Manager Stephen Burns said Thursday afternoon that he was informed by the town’s attorney of the decision by the marijuana advocacy group.
Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project , confirmed Thursday that the organization will not seek an appeal.
“Ultimately, the York selectmen are doing disservice to voters by wrongfully preventing them from casting ballots on this important issue, and we utterly disagree with them,” Tvert said. “But we’ve already spent enough time and money on this, and we don’t want to continue to fight with them.”
Burns said town attorney Mary Costigan informed him by email of the decision, which effectively puts an end to the legalization question in York — at least for now.
On Sept. 19, Superior Court judge Paul Fritzche upheld the town’s position that legalizing marijuana was not a lawful ordinance, as it could not be legally enforced. “This needs to be a topic of state and federal policy,” Fritzche said in his ruling.
The Marijuana Policy Project had 21 days to appeal Fritzche’s ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and that deadline would have been Oct. 10.
Fritzche said the selectmen were justified in twice voting against putting a legalization measure on the ballot this November, despite the fact that the Marijuana Policy Project collected enough petition signatures to trigger a local referendum. The Marijuana Policy Project has similar measures on the ballot this November in Lewiston and South Portland.
The Marijuana Policy Project successfully campaigned for a legalization ordinance in Portland last fall.