No Cap Recap

BY SARA MCKEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW BOURGEOIS

The “No Cap on Cannabis” initiative proposed modifying Chapter 35 of the Portland City Code, Governing the Regulation of Marijuana Businesses, in two ways: (1) reducing the required distance between marijuana retail facilities and dispensaries from 250 feet to 100 feet; and (2) removing the cap on the number of marijuana retail stores and dispensaries in the city.

To be blunt: No cap, f@#$ yeah!

The Yes on F Campaign passed with 53.1% in support and 46.9% against. This means that 20,918 Portland residents voted for free and fair market cannabis regulations.

Yes on F was led by a grassroots collection of volunteers, industry members, and enthusiasts. Instead of littering signs up and down Franklin, signs were strategically placed throughout Portland, a “No Cap” Instagram page was established, and supporters reached out to their networks for support.

Question F was ignored by mainstream political organizers who seemed to be alphabetically aligned. I don’t know about you, but I was receiving daily text messages imploring my inclination on: A, B, C, D, and E… but what about F?! It was curious that members of the cannabis community were not supportive of removing the cap or relaxing the buffer. And the City Council wouldn’t speak of it during their countless hours deliberating and assessing the Colorado cannabis catastrophe!

When the cotton mouth subsided, Portland’s City Council voted 5-3 to halt the first round of licensing, forgo the cap and buffer, and grant the 36 existing applicants licenses. This was a shock to the industry but a welcome action for process-weary applicants, nonetheless.

Soon thereafter, the weeding out started. Applicants started receiving letters disqualifying them for various reasons including late tax payments. Thankfully, the city realized that they granted an extension for payments because of that COVID thing.

Unfortunately, Portland did lose a handful of cannabis businesses to surrounding towns. Between the application process, restrictions (cap and buffer), and arbitrary licensing rules, applicants decided to go elsewhere. South Portland has provided refuge to many cannabis businesses that decided Portland was just not worth the squeeze.

Removing the cannabis cap means that there will be opportunity in the future in Portland. If Question F had failed, there would have been a freeze on any new retail cannabis businesses in Portland until the number of operators dipped below 20 stores, which would likely take years, if not decades.

Pot shops will not be popping up in a neighborhood near you…well, unless you are in the zone deemed appropriate. You’ll see a few more green crosses out in some pockets of town, a virtue of limiting zoning and condensing it to certain areas of the city. The “No Cannabis Cap” campaign argued that zoning and setbacks provided a natural cap on the number of retail stores…that and, of course, a free and fair market!

This is good news for Maine’s medical cannabis industry and patients who were disproportionately negatively affected by the cap, as only three of the 36 applicants were medical.

Besides the obvious price differences (taxes, man!) between medical and adult-use cannabis, there are important reasons to maintain Maine’s medical cannabis program. Many patients require higher doses of THC to relieve their ailments. Adult-use edibles cannot exceed 100 mg of THC, which may not be enough for all patients. According to the City of Portland, new medical and adult-use retail marijuana licenses will continue to be accepted. If you submitted your application before September 1, 2020 and were not denied, then the 100foot marijuana store-to-marijuana store buffer does not apply to you. If your application was submitted on or after September 1, 2020, then the 100-foot buffer will apply. The 500-foot buffer between pre-existing public schools, private schools, and public preschool programs remains unchanged.

It seems clear that even as Portland heads into 2021, there will still be no open adult-use recreational stores in Portland. For now, we have high hopes for Portland’s adult-use retail cannabis market.