Marijuana Stores in Maine Report Living Matters Despite Pandemic

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine’s rollout of legal marijuana sales has slowed compared to other states due to the coronavirus pandemic, but stores are reporting strong business nonetheless.

Maine was unable to repeat the large opening scenes after the first sales in other states. Regulators reported more than $ 1 million in sales in October, more than $ 1.2 million in November and nearly $ 2 million in December. The number of retail businesses also continues to grow.

“Despite all the market challenges, everything from COVID to supply chains and beyond, Maine has done a very good job of getting this market going,” said Thomas Winstanley, Vice President of Marketing at Theory Wellness, based in South Portland. located, and Waterville. “Cannabis becomes part of the social structure.”

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Nearly a third of the U.S. states have approved legal use of marijuana for adults. These include several states with longer-established marijuana programs and four that have just become legal in the 2020 election and programs are being developed.

But only Maine became legal in 2016 and then took nearly four years to create a legal framework for retail sales. Sales began in October, just as the pandemic in the state and across the country worsened.

Cannabis sales in Maine are much less than Massachusetts, which also became legal in 2016 and set up its marijuana program faster. Massachusetts officials have reported more than $ 1 billion in sales since the fall of 2018.

Maine now houses 15 marijuana stores, 16 growing facilities and nine active manufacturing manufacturing facilities. The state approved the first six active licenses in September. There are still dozens of licenses at various locations along the pipeline.

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Maine’s program is tailored to meet the needs of a smaller state. The state is wise to take a cautious approach to growing the industry, especially during a pandemic, said Scott Gagnon, a member of the Maine Marijuana Advisory Commission.

Consumers had to exercise the same kind of social distancing and face-covering requirements as everyone else in Maine, which is subject to a state-wide mask guideline by Janet Mills, a Democrat.

“In other states, there are people along the block on the first day of sales and that’s a big thing,” Gagnon said. “I think it was, at least compared to other states before us, less important.”

Maine’s long-running medical marijuana program, dating back to the late 1990s, is also still in full swing during the pandemic. The medical program is much larger and sold more than $ 200 million last year.

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Some in the medical marijuana business have approached the legalization of retail with anxiety, and it has continued with the introduction of recreational sales, said Catherine Lewis, chairwoman of the board of the Maine Medical Association Marijuana Caregivers.

“The way it was rolled out was more for large commercial businesses, as opposed to the small Maine cottage industry we started with the medical program,” she said.

For now, however, the retail industry is excited to get going, even under less-than-ideal conditions, said David Boyer, a consultant in the cannabis industry in Portland.

“Maine has been growing marijuana for a long time, and with tourism down because of COVID, it can be difficult for some of these places if you open up,” Boyer said. “There’s stuff on the shelves.”