Maine is about to have a booming, legal industry, as Portland, the most populous city and one of the state’s major economic areas, is preparing to launch into recreational sales.
While the implementation process in the city has been slow, as Maine initially launched legal cannabis sales back in October of last year, it is finally ready to go. SeaWeed Co. opened its doors earlier this month, March 12, and Grass Roots Marijuana Shop plans to open March 16. This will be followed by another 31 applicants who are waiting for approval, and who hope to also be opening their stores.
With the new applicants, the plan is for them to be able to get their stores up and running by November, maybe even sooner, as long as things continue to go according to plan. Jessica Hanscombe is currently the city’s acting director of permits and inspections, and she is trying to get things moving so that dispensaries can start opening. So far, only a few have been denied.
“In the years I’ve been doing this, we’ve adopted different ordinances, but this is the first that’s so expansive,” Hanscombe told the Portland Press Herald regarding the scope of the new regulations. “We hope to be a city every other city can look to for the best way to do this.”
At this time, city regulators have 59 different licenses to consider in total, including retailers, labs to test cannabis and places where manufacturing of extracts or edibles will take place.
Since Maine’s program first opened, its recreational cannabis market has brought in $9.29 million total in revenue, including $2.5 million just in January and another $2.5 million in February. The state has also pulled in $250,000 in sales tax revenue. If these numbers continue, finally implementing a legal cannabis industry in Portland is going to help things leap even further ahead.
