POLITICS
Straight to the Dome B Y N I C K M U R R AY P H O T O G R A P H E D B Y S E A N PAVO N E
There is hope the state government will begin to deliver on its responsibilities to facilitate a legal, adult-use cannabis market this year. After all, this is what voters passed in 2016. In full disclosure, I worked for the “Yes on 1” campaign as deputy field director, based in Bangor during the general election season. I had thousands of conversations with folks about cannabis in 2015, gathering signatures to put legalization on the 2016 ballot, and thousands more once we made the ballot as Question 1. We worked really hard to make it happen over those years, and at some points it felt like Janet Mills was working against us. Late in October 2016, within two weeks of Election Day, then-Attorney General Janet Mills released a statement saying that Question 1 would make marijuana legal for children. Her office argued that since the juvenile code reflects the criminal code, in this regard, repealing the criminal statute would leave a legal gray area for minors to possess cannabis. Proponents saw this as a cynical “October surprise”—an 11th-hour attempt to sink the campaign. It nearly succeeded. The margin of victory on Election Day was within 0.5%, and after an extensive recount, the results were certified and cannabis was legal for adults to possess, grow at home, and give as a gift. Cannabis reformers were critical of the previous governor, Paul LePage, for dragging the process out as much as he could during his last two years in office. It’s hard to tell how much Gov. Mills will defer to Democratic leaders in the House and Senate on cannabis policy. She is a tough, shrewd politician but, like Democratic party leaders in D.C., she could have a tough time reining in a caucus much more progressive than she is and could be influenced to support opening up Maine’s new legal cannabis market sooner than later.
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MAINECANNABISCHRONICLE.COM
By early 2017, it seemed that then-Attorney General Mills had accepted that Mainers want a regulated cannabis market. She called on Congress to allow banks to work with state-sanctioned cannabis businesses. This has been a notorious sticking point for many in the state-legal cannabis industry. From accepting credit card payments to opening bank accounts and paying bills, proprietors have been stonewalled by traditional financial institutions. Mills’ willingness to speak out on this issue showed she understood a crucial part of the struggle for cannabis entrepreneurs. During her campaign for governor, Mills was quoted as saying, “I’m not opposed to adult-use recreational marijuana...you’ve got to do three things with marijuana, cannabis: test it, track it and tax it.” In the same forum, she said that without moving quickly on implementing regulations, the black market would continue to prosper. In late January of this year, Gov. Mills mentioned to the news outlet WGME that she is paying attention to what is happening in Massachusetts. One can only imagine that the fat tax receipts are catching her eye. The structure of the adult-use cannabis market in Massachusetts is very different from what has been proposed in Maine, including a local sales tax option for towns that allow adult-use shops.
