Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Retail sales of marijuana may still be a year away, but cannabis-related cash is already flowing at the Maine State House as businesses jockey to influence the policies that will govern the lucrative recreational market.
Between Dec. 1 and March 31, clients paid lobbyists more than $140,000 for representation on marijuana-related issues in Augusta even though lawmakers have only taken up a handful of the roughly 50 bills connected to the drug.
In fact, two medical marijuana dispensaries and a group called Maine Professionals for Regulating Marijuana were ranked in the Top 10 in dollars spent, along with companies from other industries known for hefty spending on lobbying: banks, casinos, utilities and tobacco.
But observers say it's no surprise that businesses and interest groups are hiring lawyers and consultants adept at navigating the State House hallways, given predictions that sales of legal marijuana could surpass $200 million within three years.
"It strikes me that we are building a regulatory structure from the ground up so people were very concerned about how it gets done," said Rep. Erik Jorgensen, D-Portland, a frequent target of lobbying as one of 17 members of the Legislature's Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee. "I do think when you are starting a whole new industry, you expect to see that."
LOBBYISTS PACK REGULATION TALKS
Last fall's referendum to legalize marijuana for adults age 21 and over was only the first step in the process. Now lawmakers and state officials must craft the licensing, regulatory and enforcement infrastructure for retail marijuana sales to begin in Maine sometime next year. And those proceedings have generated plenty of interest.
The twice-weekly meetings of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee are often filled with attorneys from many of Maine's largest law firms as well as paid consultants and people with vested interests in the marijuana industry.
At least a dozen groups or businesses have hired lobbyists to represent them on marijuana issues in the Legislature, according to documents filed with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. That may represent a partial listing, however, because the current reports only cover expenditures through March 31 and because of limitations in searching the ethics commission database.
They include medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers, a cannabis intellectual-property company called Narrow Gauge Holdings, a California-based pharmaceutical firm, Greenwich Biosciences, that produces "cannabinoid therapeutics," as well as two of the organizations behind last year's referendum, Legalize Maine and Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lobbyists lining up to influence marijuana laws in Maine - Portland Press Herald
Author: Kevin Miller
Contact: Contact - Press Herald
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Portland Press Herald - Maine Sunday Telegram
Between Dec. 1 and March 31, clients paid lobbyists more than $140,000 for representation on marijuana-related issues in Augusta even though lawmakers have only taken up a handful of the roughly 50 bills connected to the drug.
In fact, two medical marijuana dispensaries and a group called Maine Professionals for Regulating Marijuana were ranked in the Top 10 in dollars spent, along with companies from other industries known for hefty spending on lobbying: banks, casinos, utilities and tobacco.
But observers say it's no surprise that businesses and interest groups are hiring lawyers and consultants adept at navigating the State House hallways, given predictions that sales of legal marijuana could surpass $200 million within three years.
"It strikes me that we are building a regulatory structure from the ground up so people were very concerned about how it gets done," said Rep. Erik Jorgensen, D-Portland, a frequent target of lobbying as one of 17 members of the Legislature's Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee. "I do think when you are starting a whole new industry, you expect to see that."
LOBBYISTS PACK REGULATION TALKS
Last fall's referendum to legalize marijuana for adults age 21 and over was only the first step in the process. Now lawmakers and state officials must craft the licensing, regulatory and enforcement infrastructure for retail marijuana sales to begin in Maine sometime next year. And those proceedings have generated plenty of interest.
The twice-weekly meetings of the Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee are often filled with attorneys from many of Maine's largest law firms as well as paid consultants and people with vested interests in the marijuana industry.
At least a dozen groups or businesses have hired lobbyists to represent them on marijuana issues in the Legislature, according to documents filed with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. That may represent a partial listing, however, because the current reports only cover expenditures through March 31 and because of limitations in searching the ethics commission database.
They include medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers, a cannabis intellectual-property company called Narrow Gauge Holdings, a California-based pharmaceutical firm, Greenwich Biosciences, that produces "cannabinoid therapeutics," as well as two of the organizations behind last year's referendum, Legalize Maine and Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lobbyists lining up to influence marijuana laws in Maine - Portland Press Herald
Author: Kevin Miller
Contact: Contact - Press Herald
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Portland Press Herald - Maine Sunday Telegram
