A legislative panel that is revising the state’s adult-use marijuana law say the compromise would please opponents and reduce the risk of black-market sales.
Penelope Overton
Staff Writer
Penny is excited to be the Portland Press Herald’s first climate reporter. Since joining the paper in 2016, she has written about Maine’s lobster and cannabis industries, covered state politics and spent a fellowship year exploring the impact of climate change on the lobster fishery with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. Before moving to Maine, she covered politics, environment, casino gambling and tribal issues in Florida, Connecticut and Arizona. Her favorite assignments allow her to introduce readers to unusual people, cultures, or subjects. When off the clock, Penny is usually getting lost in a new book at a local coffeehouse, watching foreign crime shows or planning her family’s next adventure.
Asians help to fill sales gap as Europe eats less Maine lobster
Live exports from the U.S. to the Far East jumped 36% last year, offsetting losses caused mainly by a Canadian trade deal.
U.S. data show increase in fatal crashes on April 20, day of pot events
Maine’s data set is too small to be statistically significant, but Canadian researchers find that, overall, U.S. drivers are at a greater risk on the roads that day than a week earlier or later.
All Maine lobstermen will have to report fishing details, including secrets of success
But regulators who monitor the health of the fishery decide the state’s harvesters won’t have to reveal trap locations, catch totals and more until 2023.
Pot advocates help finance gubernatorial bid of leading marijuana opponent
All five directors of Legalize Maine have donated to House Minority Leader Ken Fredette’s campaign. Their positions on marijuana policy sometimes mesh, but he says he’s not doing the group’s bidding.
Medical marijuana sales, caregivers and patient numbers decline
Caregivers and dispensary owners blame the ‘gray market’ caused by Maine’s emerging adult-use market for the first decline in the state’s medical marijuana industry since it began nearly 7 years ago.
Maine lawmakers won’t extend moratorium on pot sales, but it’s still not for sale
Absent the state infrastructure to license retail pot, the move will have little impact on towns, a committee co-chair says.
LePage agrees to delay new, more restrictive medical marijuana rules
The governor wants to give a committee more time to resolve deficiencies in the program before implementing new caregiver and processor regulations.
State disputes study that predicts sharp decline in Gulf of Maine lobsters
The Department of Marine Resources won’t be using researchers’ model to make management decisions, saying that forecasting fishery populations 30 years out is extremely difficult.
Panel votes to put new medical pot rules on hold until July
That would allow lawmakers to consider another bill that could nullify what some critics consider overly restrictive rules on medical marijuana growing and processing that could damage the industry.