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Even while COVID-19 restrictions took a toll on tourism throughout most of 2020, Maine still attracted 12.1 million visitors whose spending generated nearly $9 billion in economic impact to the state last year, according to the Maine Office of Tourism’s 2020 Economic Impact and Visitor Tracking report.

Pepin, whose JAR Cannabis Co. currently has two active adult-use cultivation licenses, four conditional manufacturing licenses and six adult-use conditional dispensary licenses—three of which have approved jurisdictions—said he speculates tourism had a major hand in the summer retail spikes.

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“We also benefit with tourism here in Maine with fall foliage,” he said. “I think October, November, it’s a great time for tourism. And then we get into the ski season too. So, overall [the industry is] going to continue to grow. I don’t think you’re going to see month-over-month growth like we saw June to July. We’re not going to keep adding multiple millions of sales top line, but I would expect for it to continue to stay solid.”

Specifically, JAR has storefronts in Newry and Carrabassett Valley, where Maine’s two largest ski resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf Mountain, are located.

“We love being outdoors in the wintertime,” Pepin said. “My business partner [Ryan Roy] and I are big skiers. So, having cannabis businesses at two of Maine’s best ski mountains, that’s like a dream come true for us.”

A Small, Rural Town

In addition to retail, Maine has 51 active cultivation licenses, 27 active manufacturing licenses and three active lab licenses in its adult-use market, according to OMP data.

Taking nearly four years to roll out adult-use sales, Maine was the slowest among four states where voters approved legalization measures during the November 2016 election: Nevada launched sales in July 2017; California launched in January 2018; and Massachusetts launched in November 2018.

Despite the extra time in Maine, 47 municipalities opting in means roughly 90% have yet to do so for adult-use retail. Meanwhile, 90 municipalities have opted-in for cultivation, 56 have opted in for manufacturing and 55 have opted in for testing.

But those opt-in rates could change following next week’s referendum election on Nov. 2.

Well, maybe.

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In Dover-Foxcroft, a 70-square-mile town of 4,200-some people in central Maine, about 30 miles northwest of Bangor, four ballot measures regarding opt-in preferences for adult-use cannabis retail, cultivation, manufacturing and testing facilities are going to the voters next Tuesday.

According to the ballot, a “yes” vote indicates voters are in favor of opt-in policy, and, if any of the articles pass, the town will proceed to develop land-use ordinance amendments for future consideration by the voters.

In short, the ballot measures regarding adult-use cannabis establishments are non-binding, said Steve Grammont, one of seven select board members who make up the town’s legislative body. The select board members added the measures to the ballot after a recommendation by the town’s 10-member Land Use Ordinance Committee.

“The best way to ask people what they think is to have a referendum question on the ballot,” Grammont said. “Effectively it is an official public opinion poll only. It has no legal status on its own because it isn’t an ordinance. Such ordinances must be approved of by the select board and put before the people at a future town meeting.”

Changing the Rules

Originally, Maine’s adult-use cannabis rules were written so that municipalities had to opt out of the new legal uses, but, before implementation, those rules were modified to an opt-in method.

“This was the right thing to do because otherwise every municipality would have [had] to either rush rules into place or rush to get a vote together for an opt-out determination,” Grammont said. “That was just a recipe for disaster for everybody, including cannabis proponents. So, thankfully the opt-in-method was adopted in the final rule.”

While the past few years have allowed elected officials from towns like Dover-Foxcroft time to put some thought into what adult-use cannabis operations would look like in their communities, various factors have played a role in their hesitancies to opt in.

Those indecisions could stem from a municipality’s majority vote when Question 1 was put before the state in 2016, from a lack of financial incentive with no local tax generated through opting in or even from some of the stigmas associated with legalization, Pepin said.

“I think it requires a lot of education at a municipal level to just help selectmen and town councilors understand the nuances of adult-use marijuana law, medical marijuana law, like the process and the different options that they could consider when it comes to opting in,” he said. “Like, what license types do you want to consider? Do you want to cap them? Do you want it to be a lottery? Do you want to have setbacks between stores? So yeah, it just requires a bunch of education.”

Expanding Community Participation

Pepin said he believes people in communities that have opted to participate in Maine’s adult-use market are starting to spread the word that their towns remain safe and have not experienced negative impacts “by and large” to inviting cannabis retailers to their jurisdictions.  

Two of JAR’s medical cannabis dispensaries were in towns that did not originally opt in for adult-use legalization participation, but, after working with elected officials, those towns eventually opted in, Pepin said. Specifically Auburn, where JAR had an extraction lab, Pepin said he and other industry stakeholders worked with councilors to help craft ordinances that eventually led to the city opting in for retail, cultivation, manufacturing and testing.

In Newry, which is governed by select board members, elected officials let the town’s residents vote on an ordinance to opt in for retail. Pepin and other advocates had similar success when it came to the town of Gorham opting in for cultivation and manufacturing.

“We had a medical cultivation facility for many years that’s been in the town of Gorham, and the town of Gorham was not interested in opting in for adult-use retail, but they did hear the industry, the cultivators and manufacturers in town, about the importance of being able to switch over,” Pepin said. “And so, Gorham was good to work with and ultimately understood whether we’re growing plants for medical use or adult use, we’re pretty much doing the exact same thing in the buildings that we’re already approved in.”

Dover-Foxcroft by the Numbers