Maine’s Governor LePage vows to veto bill regulating cannabis sales in the state, it was revealed this week. But that might not be enough to stop the measure. The Maine House of Representatives passed the bill last week by a vote of 112-34. That margin is enough to override a LePage veto.
The Senate is currently considering the compromise law and is expected to give its final approval later this week.
It Wouldn’t Be the First Time
Maine’s voters legalized cannabis for adult use in 2016. But last year, LePage vetoed the bill lawmakers had passed to create a legal market. A special legislative committee took up the issue again this year. Their bill is a compromise between the referendum passed by voters and the continued prohibition sought by staunch opponents of legal marijuana.
Opponents of the compromise bill believe the legislature should not approve state measures that are against federal law.
“If the citizens were to do a referendum to legalize heroin, do we then have an obligation to make the heroin law, a better law?” asked House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, a Republican from Newport.
Lawmakers believe that what they have come up with this time is better than the grey market the state has now, where pot is legal but buying it isn’t. Democrat Theresa is a member of the Maine House of Representatives from Falmouth and co-chaired the committee. She told local media that “the status quo just isn’t what we should be doing.”
The new bill continues to permit home cannabis cultivation, but the number of flowering plants allowed is reduced from to six to three.
Also, the measure passed by voters included provisions to allow for the creation of social