Politics
Maine Initiative To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization Is ‘Really Dumb,’ GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Says
A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine is imploring voters not to sign a petition to put a “really dumb” initiative on next year’s ballot that would roll back the state’s adult-use marijuana legalization law.
The measure, if approved, would also revise the regulatory structure of the medical cannabis program by imposing product testing requirements.
“It’s dumb. It’s a dumb idea. Let’s focus on the things that really matter—the things that are going to make Maine a better place,” David Jones, a real estate executive who previously ran for governor in 2006, said.
“Give law enforcement the opportunity to enforce the laws. Get rid of these illegal Chinese grows,” he said. “There’s tens of thousands of people who use cannabis. There’s people who invest their life savings [to enter the market]. This is an industry that generates over a half a billion dollars a year.”
‘I think we just have to focus on the things that make sense. And this, I’m sorry, just does not make sense,” Jones said. “So please do not sign that petition. It doesn’t make any sense. Stand with me on this, and let’s do what we can to make Maine great again.”
The proposal that officials cleared for signature gathering earlier this month—“An Act to Amend the Cannabis Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act”—is a revised version of a marijuana initiative filed in September that was backed by a Republican state senator and a former top staffer to then-Gov. Paul LePage (R), a staunch prohibitionist.
If the latest measure makes the ballot and gets approved, it would remove and amend multiple sections of current state statute—aimed at effectively repealing the legalization of recreational marijuana sales that voters passed in 2016.
Possession of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis by adults 21 and older would remain legal under the proposal, but a section of the law permitting home cultivation would be repealed. Medical marijuana sales and home cultivation would remain legal.
Madison Carey, who was listed as the chief petitioner of the original version of the repeal initiative and remains involved in the current campaign, told Marijuana Moment last week that “there needs to be regulations on marijuana,” arguing that her experience recovering from an opioid misuse disorder speaks to the insufficiency of current law.
“My hope is to just bring awareness to the reality of the potential dangers of not having regulations,” she said. “I think people are fed up with the constant use—the constant [retail businesses] coming up where people can now legally purchase marijuana.”
Of course, repealing the voter-approved law that enacted a system of licensed adult-use sales would eliminate the current regulatory infrastructure that’s in place, which reform advocates argue helps mitigate the public health and safety risks associated with the illicit market.
Rep. David Boyer (R), who led the fight to pass the cannabis legalization initiative on Maine’s ballot in 2016 when he was a staffer for the Marijuana Policy Project, said voters should refuse to sign petitions for the new initiative.
“Don’t sign away Maine’s progress—decline to sign this misguided repeal initiative,” he told Marijuana Moment last week. “Repealing cannabis legalization would shutter an industry bigger than lobsters, potatoes and blueberries put together, costing jobs, revenue and economic growth for our state.”
Under the new measure, the director of the Office of Cannabis Policy would face a mandate to “promote the health and well-being of the people of the state and advance policies that protect public health and safety, emphasizing the health and well-being of minors, as priority considerations in performing all duties.”
They would also have to “ensure that qualifying patients maintain access to high-quality, effective and affordable cannabis for medical use under this Act.”
Under the proposal, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services would be required to create a testing program for cannabis products, requiring dispensaries and caregivers to submit such products to a licensed facility for a safety assessment before they’re distributed to qualified patients.
The testing facility would need to “ensure that the cannabis or cannabis product does not exceed the maximum level of allowable contamination for any contaminant that is injurious to health and for which testing is required and to ensure correct labeling.”
“The department shall adopt rules establishing a testing program pursuant to this section, rules identifying the types of contaminants that are injurious to health for which cannabis and cannabis products must be tested under this chapter and rules regarding the maximum level of allowable contamination for each contaminant,” the ballot initiative text states.
Further, regulators would need to administer a system for tracking cannabis plants from seedings to the point of retail sale or disposal. That system would have to “allow for cannabis plants at the stage of cultivation and upon transfer from the stage of cultivation to another registrant to be tracked by group.”
Activists must submit at least 67,682 valid voter signatures by February 2, 2026 in order to qualify for next year’s ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative would take effect beginning on January 1, 2028.
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Maine legislators in June rejected a bill to legalize possession of up to one ounce of psilocybin by adults 21 and older.
That followed a separate effort in the state last year to legalize psilocybin and allow adults to access the psychedelic at state-licensed facilities. But lawmakers watered down that bill—amending it to create a commission to further explore the reform instead—and it ultimately did not pass.
Meanwhile, Maine lawmakers in February voted to investigate possible conflicts of interest by a top marijuana official.
And last year, a law took effect allowing people to apply to have records of now-legal marijuana crimes sealed.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
