Maine’s illegal grow problem 🥊

MAINE
What’s happening with weed in Vacationland?

Maine caregivers have an illegal grow problem: The Maine legislature is considering a bill that would limit access to the medical cannabis market based on prior involvement with so-called criminal organizations. 

The move is intended to combat illicit grow sites that have sprung up throughout the rural part of the state with supposed ties to transnational organized crime.

At the same time, Maine's caregiver community is raising concerns that the bill is too broad and would also make it harder for aspiring operators to clean up their act and join the legal cannabis market.

What they’re saying: "In recent years criminal enterprises have penetrated rural Maine and purchased farms, single dwellings, old churches, warehouses and retro-fitted these structures into cannabis cultivation sites. They have established illegal grows, under the radar: filthy, unregulated and unlicensed settings,” State Rep. Ann Fredericks, submitted testimony supporting the bill, HP 1063.

“The Department of Homeland Security has information which indicates that more than 200 grows are linked to the Asian Transnational criminal organizations."

On the other side: "At the end of the day, organized crime is already illegal. It is my opinion that we need to stop attaching the enforcement of non cannabis issues to cannabis legislation. The potential for this to be weaponized against the caregiver community is too high." Royal River Botanicals Founder Jordan Smith said in submitted testimony.

Another advocate, Derek Shirley, put it more succinctly when his written testimony was a meme involving a cat pointing a human finger at the viewer with the words, "If you support these bills. Then you want more cannabis prisoners."

Fiercely independent caregivers: Maine has a unique medical cannabis market. It’s dominated by licensed caregivers that are permitted to operate retail storefronts, unlike other states. 

Medical operators and caregivers alike are not required to use the state's Metrc track and trace system, nor are they required to use lab testing.

Over the last few years, the state has attempted — and failed — to require caregivers to test and track their products. Each time, caregivers successfully pushed back on their proposed regulatory changes.

Despite those past victories, caregivers are seeing diminishing influence as their numbers have been plummeting. There were 1,636 registered caregivers as of April 30, down from 3,032 in 2021.

International illicit grows? Toward the end of 2023, The Maine Wire, a news outlet operated by conservative think tank Maine Policy Institute, began reporting on what it described as a vast network of over 200 illegal grow sites in the rural parts of the state that were being run by Chinese nationals.

Soon, law enforcement officials were raiding numerous illegal grow sites, confirming that there is a lot of illegal cannabis activity in the state.

Given its past conflicts with the state, the caregiver community remains concerned about whether a crackdown on illegal grows might go too far.

“In the past, it’s been good legislation like this that’s been weaponized against us. What if they decide to label that I’m a drug house, or that there’s been Chinese involvement?” asked Maine Cannabis Union Association President Jennifer Belcher before a joint committee hearing to discuss the bill and similar proposals on May 8.

-ZH

“People with cancer or chronic pain disability could be arrested simply for accessing a plant that helps them survive. Recriminalization is not regulation. It’s retaliation.” Larry Grant, a New Jersey cancer survivor and Coalition for Medical Marijuana board member told The New Jersey Monitor.

Lawmakers in New Jersey are currently considering legislation to crackdown on unlicensed cannabis and hemp shops. In a state that continues to offer some of the most expensive cannabis in the country, unlicensed hemp shops are seen as a cost-saving alternative for medical patients. 

Read more from the New Jersey Monitor.

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