An Act To Improve the Adult Use Marijuana Laws
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1432
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: PIERCE
Amends: 28-B MRSA §202, 28-B MRSA §501, 28-B MRSA §504

Legislative Document
No. 1432
H.P. 1042
House of Representatives, March 28, 2019
An Act To Improve the Adult Use Marijuana Laws
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative PIERCE of Falmouth.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  28-B MRSA §202, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 409, Pt. A, §6, is 
amended to read:
2.  Resident.  If the applicant is a natural person, the applicant must be a resident.  If 
the applicant is a business entity:
A.  Every officer, director, manager and general partner of the business entity must be 
a natural person who is a resident; and
B.  A majority of the shares, membership interests, partnership interests or other 
equity ownership interests as applicable to the business entity must be held or owned 
by natural persons who are residents or business entities whose owners are all natural 
persons who are residents.
This subsection does not apply to an applicant for a testing facility license. This 
subsection is repealed June 1, 2021.
Sec. 2.  28-B MRSA §501, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 409, Pt. A, §6 and 
amended by c. 452, §37, is repealed.
Sec. 3.  28-B MRSA §501, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:
6-A.  Limited authorization for sale of marijuana plants and marijuana 
products by registered caregiver or registered dispensary to marijuana 
establishment licensee.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary and 
subject to the requirements and restrictions of this section, for a period starting on the 
date that the department issues the first active cultivation facility license under section 
205, subsection 4 and ending 2 years after that date, a registered caregiver may sell 
marijuana and marijuana products to a marijuana establishment licensee that is controlled 
by the same registered caregiver and a registered dispensary may sell marijuana and 
marijuana products to a marijuana establishment that is controlled by the same registered 
dispensary; during that period, a marijuana establishment licensee that is also a registered 
caregiver or a registered dispensary may purchase marijuana and marijuana products only 
from that licensee's own medical facility.  The department shall post on its publicly 
accessible website information regarding the date on which the department issues the first 
active cultivation facility license and the date that is 2 years after the date the first active 
cultivation facility license is issued.
A.  Beginning on the date that the department issues the first active cultivation 
facility license and ending 2 years after that date, in an active marijuana 
establishment license issued to any licensee that has demonstrated to the department's 
satisfaction that the licensee is also a registered caregiver or a registered dispensary, 
the department shall include language authorizing the licensee, at any time within the 
licensee's first year of licensure, to purchase an unlimited amount of marijuana and 
marijuana products from that licensee's own medical facility.  This authorization may 
not be included in any license issued upon renewal under section 209.
B.  A cultivation facility licensee authorized pursuant to paragraph A to purchase 
marijuana and marijuana products from registered caregivers and registered 
dispensaries that transacts such a purchase shall pay to the department the excise 
taxes that would have been imposed under subchapter 10 on the sale of the marijuana 
and marijuana products if the marijuana and marijuana products had been sold by a 
cultivation facility licensee to another licensee.  In addition to payment of the 
required excise taxes under this paragraph, the cultivation facility licensee shall 
provide the department with an accounting of the transaction, which must include 
information on the number of mature marijuana plants, immature marijuana plants 
and seedlings and the quantity of marijuana seeds and marijuana products purchased 
in the transaction and any other information required by the department by rule.
C.  All marijuana and marijuana products purchased pursuant to this subsection must 
be tested in compliance with the testing program established pursuant to section 601 
and tracked in compliance with the tracking system implemented pursuant to section 
105.
D.  A marijuana establishment licensee that violates this subsection or the rules 
adopted pursuant to this subsection is subject to the imposition by the department of 
monetary penalties, a license revocation or suspension and an order directing the 
destruction of unauthorized marijuana and marijuana products pursuant to subchapter 
in addition to any criminal or civil penalties that may be imposed pursuant to other 
applicable laws or rules.  A registered caregiver or registered dispensary that violates 
this subsection is subject to the revocation of its registration or other applicable 
penalty under the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act in addition to any criminal or 
civil penalties that may be imposed pursuant to other applicable laws or rules.
The department shall adopt rules to implement this subsection.
Sec. 4.  28-B MRSA §504, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 2017, c. 409, Pt. A, §6 and 
amended by c. 452, §37, is further amended to read:
5.  Use of shared facility for retail sale of adult use marijuana and adult use 
marijuana products and marijuana and marijuana products for medical use.  A 
marijuana store licensee that is also a registered caregiver or a registered dispensary may 
not sell or offer for sale to consumers adult use marijuana and adult use marijuana 
products pursuant to this chapter within the same facility or building in which the licensee 
also sells or offers for sale to qualifying patients marijuana and marijuana products for 
medical use pursuant to the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the adult use marijuana law in several ways.  First, it repeals all 
residency requirements regarding licensure and operations as of June 1, 2021.  Second, 
the bill clarifies that, during the first 2 years after the first active cultivation facility 
license is issued, a dispensary or caregiver may transfer both harvested marijuana and 
marijuana products to an adult use marijuana establishment controlled by that dispensary 
or caregiver during the first year of that marijuana establishment's operation.  Third, this 
bill allows a marijuana store licensee that is also a registered caregiver or a registered 
dispensary to sell or offer for sale both adult use marijuana and adult use marijuana 
products within the same facility or building in which the licensee also sells or offers for 
sale marijuana or marijuana products to qualifying patients.