The post Is The Governor of Maine Lightening Up His Anti-Weed Stance? appeared first on High Times.
Is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? Republican Governor Paul LePage has just agreed to delay the implementation of tough new regulations for the state’s medical marijuana community. The proposed rules were scheduled to take effect February 1 but have been postponed until May instead.
New Regulations For Maine?
The new directives would have ended the manufacturing of cannabis products such edibles, tinctures and topicals. Unannounced inspections of caregivers and their operations would have also been permitted.
So is the governor of Maine lightening up his anti-weed stance? It doesn’t look like it. Governor LePage still wants stricter regulations. He’s just willing to wait to get them.
“While I believe strongly that the medical marijuana program needs improved and increased regulation, waiting until May to ensure we do not create unnecessary confusion and complication is a reasonable approach,” LePage said in a letter sent Wednesday to Representative Deborah Sanderson.
Representative Sanderson, also a Republican, serves on the Health and Human Services Committee of the Maine State Legislature. That committee, which is tasked with regulating medical marijuana, had requested the delay and was poised to pass a law that would do just that.
But the law would have failed to take effect before the impending regulations, making passage of the bill a moot point. The committee wants time to craft legislation that would address many of the same issues covered by LePage’s delayed rules.
New Rules Are Still Inevitable
Representative Sanderson made it clear that she was not trying to avoid regulation of the cannabis industry in Maine. “The program needs greater oversight. My request was