WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Maine Governor Janet Mills has signed a law that provides a legal framework for the sale of recreational marijuana to adults in the state. The law could enable recreational marijuana sales to begin in the state from early 2020.
On Thursday, Mills signed into law LD 719, an act regarding adult use marijuana. The bill, which was enacted by the Legislature in the previous week, makes changes to the Marijuana Legalization Act. It approves the provisionally adopted major rules developed by the Mills administration.
The Office of Marijuana Policy or OMP, a part of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services, developed the rules as part of a collaborative effort between state agencies, OMP's rule-making consulting team, the public, and industry stakeholders who all participated in the public comment process.
'Over the course of the last several months, my Administration has worked quickly to implement the law regarding Maine's adult-use recreational marijuana market as Maine voters asked the state to do two and a half years ago,' Governor Mills said in a statement.
Maine voters approved recreational marijuana in 2016, but sales have been delayed. The state already has legal medical marijuana.
The new law includes an amendment to the Maine Food Law to no longer consider edibles produced with recreational marijuana as adulterated, allowing the entry of certain vendors into the limited access areas of licensees.
The law takes effect 90 days after the adjournment of the Legislature. Following the effective date, the OMP has 60 days before it must finally adopt their adult use rules and must begin accepting adult use business applications within 30 days of final adoption.
The OMP is responsible for the oversight of all aspects of legalized marijuana, including Maine's existing Medical Use of Marijuana Program.
The OMP said it will spend the next several months completing work on a marijuana track and trace system, adult use licensing system, and a public health and safety education campaign. It expects to being accepting applications for licenses by the end of 2019.
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