Maine Bill Would Not Require Cannabis Businesses to Provide Certain Information to Regulators

A new bill in Maine would keep parts of the state’s cannabis market a secret by not requiring business owners to provide details on security, trade secrets or standard operating procedures to the state’s Office of Marijuana Policy, according to a WGME report.

A hearing for the legislation was scheduled for Feb. 10.

The bill could possibly limit the amount of information available to customers before they purchase cannabis products in the state, according to WGME.

State officials had deemed more than 70 cannabis business applications as complete as of late January, according to a Maine Public Radio report, meaning that the first adult-use businesses could open this spring.

The Office of Marijuana Policy will now review the applications and issue conditional approvals, according to the news outlet, and those businesses awarded conditional approvals will then need to seek local approval from a municipality. Once a business has local approval, it can get an active license from the state.

Maine voters approved adult-use cannabis legalization in 2016, and the state has received 81 applications for cannabis dispensaries, 64 for cultivation facilities and 24 for manufacturing businesses, according to Maine Public Radio. Forty-three dispensaries, 25 cultivators and 10 manufacturers have had their applications marked complete by the state.