The first wave of grows, manufacturing plants and testing labs will open in the fall, giving the industry time to prepare for consumer sales.

One former Franklin County Sheriff's Office deputy is treasurer and another a board member of a wholesale medical marijuana company hit in the sweeping raid last week in Farmington.

A 2,482-signature petition filed Friday would put the city's 20-store limit on retailer licenses to a referendum in November.

Wellness Connection of Maine's longtime CEO, Patricia Rosi, has departed to take a job at its corporate parent, Acreage Holdings.

The state says it will license individuals to collect samples for testing on behalf of cannabis facilities.

Protesters are upset that state's biggest marijuana company, Wellness Connection, is using the courts to open the recreational market to out-of-state competition.

The state's largest marijuana company argues that a retail license scoring system that favors locals is unconstitutional.

Maine Cannabis Coalition says the state's decision to violate its own marijuana law will put residents at a competitive disadvantage.

The City Council votes to keep resident licensing preference despite legal advice and the state's decision to abandon its resident-only policy.

Maine's biggest city adopts a local licensing system, fee schedule and rules for medical and recreational marijuana businesses.

Nova Analytics plans to open its lab on Milliken Street in July, pending local and final state approvals.

The state reached an agreement with a marijuana company Monday that eliminates the rule that would have required applicants to have lived in Maine for 4 years.

The unanimous City Council vote is expected to help Maine revive the oft-delayed launch of its recreational market.

Among them are four manufacturing facilities, 11 growing operations and 16 retail outlets in 10 communities, with five of the stores in Portland.

A legislative committee strips out a ban on small extraction labs, federal background checks, plant size limits and fines from a department-backed bill, but adds a testing requirement.

The controversial provisions would have driven up the cost of alcohol-based extractions and allowed marijuana companies to shield certain state license data from the public.

A legislative committee votes to give the state the power to create a recreational marijuana delivery license.

Maine wants the state's medical and adult-use cannabis businesses to have the same rules whenever possible, but small operators say that would drive up prices and put them out of business.

Marijuana advocates see the proposal for a 4-person division of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to investigate marijuana crimes as an effort to outlaw the drug again.

The disadvantaged, marijuana business veterans and those who own or have long-term shop leases are among those favored in the retail license regulation to be considered by the City Council.

The $111.6 million market is twice as large as previously thought and is exceeded in value only by the lobster and potato industries.

The industry is split over efforts to keep marijuana license details secret, but opposes a bill that would drive up the price of edibles, salves and tinctures.

Maine wants to exempt trade secrets, security and operating procedures of adult-use marijuana businesses from the state public records law.

The contractor, Metrc LLC of Florida, tracks 12 other state marijuana industries, plus Washington, D.C.

Strict new state THC limits have also been dropped, but new federal guidelines will still go into effect on Oct. 1.

Advocates say it would allow legitimate businesses to compete with black market sellers, but the state says it would be too hard to regulate at this time.

City Council committees continue to debate proposed rules for a lottery to award as many as 20 retail licenses, meaning Portland won't be ready when the state is likely to start recreational sales.

The state wants to change the way it differentiates hemp from marijuana to echo stricter federal guidelines.

Officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday to finalize the proposed regulations they will send to the City Council for approval.

Josh Quint, director of operations for the Biddeford-based medical marijuana firm Canuvo, will become the first grower to serve on the 15-member panel.

A proposal to protect financial institutions serving marijuana businesses was stripped from the federal spending bill, and a measure to improve access to banking is held up in the Senate Banking Committee.

The state's proposal would double the per-acre cost for farmers and change the way the psychoactive element of hemp is measured.

Under the proposed standards, 27% of Mainers farming hemp in 2019 would have tested 'hot' for exceeding allowable THC levels in their plants.

Nelson Analytical applies for certification from the Maine CDC, a first step toward applying to the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy.

The state will publish application forms this week; on the municipal level, the process is already well underway.

Approved farmers will be eligible for key federal agriculture assistance, including farm loans and insurance, in 2020.

For one month, Maine hemp farmers had the state's CBD-infused food market to themselves, but a law change has reopened it to out-of-state growers.

Three years after legalizing adult-use marijuana, the state’s still waiting for retail shops. Consultants say the economy paid the price as dollars and expertise went elsewhere.

A proposed scoring system for the city's 20 licenses would favor women- and minority-owned businesses, Maine residents, those willing to share profits with the city and those with a business track record.

Other states have struggled to license enough, resulting in long delays, supply shortfalls and testing waivers

About 50 people flock to Sheepscot General Farm, believed to be only the second publicly accessible hemp field in the U.S., on the first of 4 days of picking for consumers looking for plants to turn into CBD lotions and tinctures.

The state's pot policy office initially describes a costly tagging system for tracing products from plant to retail, then offers a more business-friendly explanation hours later.

More than 20 medical marijuana shops dot the roadway, tempting tourists to stop and peruse their wares.

Maine's biggest medical marijuana provider wants to break up with the Rhode Island company behind its extraction operation, blaming it for $14 million in losses.

Staffers say the limit is needed to protect the market and Portland's economy, but some city councilors question the cap and the first-come, first-served method of awarding licenses.

A state law that took effect Thursday was created as a workaround to a federal ban.

Maine's adult-use marijuana industry will have the strictest residency rules in the nation.

Maine's biggest marijuana company, Wellness Connection, had threatened to sue, claiming rules' residency requirement went beyond the law.

The latest version, which will go to the Legislature for approval, would relax packaging and residency requirements.

The May 23 hearing in Portland will be the first opportunity for the public to provide in-person testimony on the state's draft of adult-use cannabis regulations.