BANGOR, Maine — A growing number of Maine medical marijuana proponents are sounding the alarm about a Nov. 8 ballot question that seeks to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Tammy Harrison of Hudson and Jeff Walls of Stockton Springs were among about 25 people who turned up for an informational session at Bangor Public Library featuring Hillary Lister of Augusta, who has been advocating for the legalization and decriminalization of cannabis for more than a decade.
“The way it’s written, there are too many problems,” Harrison said.
The two, who were part of a small rally outside the library before the information session, said that if passed by Maine voters, Question 1 would open the door to big corporate marijuana growers and processors who could force many of the small caregiver operations out of business.
That, they said, could mean less access to medicine for patients.
Lister has been visiting communities around the state to urge voters to defeat the ballot question.
“This is not what I’d been intending to be doing at this time of year, opposing something that calls itself legalization,” Lister told her Bangor audience.
“This particular bill that was written specifically for some investors to get government contracts,” Lister contended.
Among her criticisms were that the legislation could require the state to impose a costly tracking system for plants that anticipated revenues won’t cover and that a canopy cap on the square footage allowed for growing operations could tip the scales in favor of large corporations, thereby squeezing small farmers out of the market.
“This bill really replaces something that we have working as a law in this state,” she said. “It’s working basically with Washington State’s model, which has been a mess in terms of impact on medical marijuana patients as well as costs to the state.”
The legislation also could create new penalties for Mainers, she said, including marijuana operating under the influence and a public use violation for those whose use can be seen or smelled by others.
“If this passes, I think it’ll be a year that things are in limbo. It’s a massive bill. It’s 30 pages to start and will require hundreds of more pages in rulemaking and laws to actually be implemented,” she said.
“We’re looking at dozens of new laws being proposed to deal with all the problems that are anticipated on this, especially in order to comply with federal priorities because this bill is really designed for interstate scale,” she said.