Maine may make purchasing an ounce of marijuana almost as easy as buying a six-pack of beer.
Proposed adult-use cannabis regulations from the Legislature’s marijuana committee would allow licensed retail stores to sell cannabis from drive-up windows and over the internet. Like any other recreational marijuana consumer, drive-up and online customers would have to show identification to the window or delivery employee to prove they are at least 21 years old.
RELATED: Maine Works to Regulate Recreational Marijuana Program Amidst Setbacks, Delays
Supporters say such retail conveniences are already available to the state’s alcohol industry and will help Maine’s new legal marijuana market compete with a thriving illegal market. But opponents, including a leader of the marijuana committee, warn against making it too easy to buy a drug that is still illegal under federal law, and too hard for new state regulators to track sales.
“If Maine allows it for alcohol, we see no reason why it shouldn’t be allowed for marijuana, the safer substance, so long as Maine puts in place reasonable regulations to protect public safety and the consumer,” said David Boyer, director of the Maine chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project. “The voters want it regulated and taxed like alcohol. The rules should be the same.”
