Maine Cannabis Recount Ends; Recreational Cannabis Officially Approved
Recreational cannabis will soon be legal in Maine.
The group, Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, ended their recount effort for Maine’s Question 1 that narrowly passed last November. Question 1, which permitted adults 21 and over to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, passed by less than one percent.
“After counting nearly a third of all the ballots in Maine, it was clear that the recount was not going to change the result. We are grateful that the No on 1 campaign has conceded and look forward to working together towards a successful implementation of Question 1,” said David Boyer, Campaign Manager for Yes on 1.
The partial recount effort has cost taxpayers approximately $15,000, a full recount was expected to cost upwards of $500,000. Paul McCarrier of Legalize Maine, recently posted on Facebook that out of all the ballots recounted, only 81 votes against the measure had been added to the tally. The measure reportedly passed by roughly 4,000.
“We promised folks that if we came to a point where we could not see any chance of reversing the result, we would not drag the process out,” Newell Augur, legal counsel for No on 1, said in a release. “We are satisfied that the count and the result are accurate.”
The new law will take effect 30 days after it is signed by Governor Paul LePage. This may be not be immediate, as LePage recently stated, “We’ve got to get rid of medical marijuana.”
The law also allows adults to grow up to six cannabis plants and legalizes a regulated system of cannabis cultivation centers and retail outlets; they are expected to be open until sometime in 2018.
Maine joins California, Massachusetts and Nevada as states that approved recreational cannabis this November. Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia had passed recreational use in prior elections.
