Maine lawmakers voted March 2 to allow regulators to license adult-use cannabis delivery businesses, according to a Portland Press Herald report.
The legislative committee that oversees the state’s adult-use cannabis market approved a bill that would allow the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy to create and adult-use cannabis delivery license, the news outlet reported.
Lawmakers banned the sale of adult-use cannabis through vending machines, drive-thrus, online platforms and delivery services during their rewrite of the 2016 voter-approved initiative that legalized adult-use cannabis in the state, according to the Portland Press Herald. (Medical cannabis businesses, on the other hand, have always been authorized to deliver products to patients.)
When Senate President Troy Jackson first proposed L.D. 1621, opponents argued that its passage would force the Office of Marijuana Policy to rework its licensing regulations, which would ultimately delay the state’s launch of its adult-use cannabis market, according to the Portland Press Herald.
However, the committee vote could signal a shift on the issue of adult-use cannabis delivery, the news outlet reported. Supporters of the bill were able to win approval, in part, due to an amendment that bans home deliveries after 7 p.m. The legislation passed out of committee in a 7-3 vote, the Portland Press Herald reported.