Almost Four Years Later…
On Friday, October 9, 2020, recreational marijuana dispensaries in Maine opened with two in South Portland, one in Stratton, and one in Bangor. The long-anticipated start to adult-use sales in Maine marked the end of a four-year journey to a legal cannabis market in the state.
Maine voters approved legalized recreational marijuana sales, cultivation, and possession in the 2016 general election. But the state’s Republican legislators and former GOP Gov. Paul LePage stopped the implementation of a retail sales market in the years following the 2016 vote.
Finally, in 2018, the state legislature passed a recreational cannabis implementation bill. LePage did veto that bill at the time but the legislature overrode his veto. In June, 2019, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill setting up the legal framework for the retail cannabis market.
The daily purchase limit for adults 21 and older in Maine is: up to 2.5 ounces of dry-leaf marijuana, 5 ounces of concentrate, and edibles with up to 100 total milligrams of THC.
