HOULTON, Maine – A public hearing on changes to the town’s marijuana ordinance is slated for Sept. 23 at the Gentle Memorial Building to accommodate more people, said town council chairman Chris Robinson on Monday night.
“There will be a three minutes per person time limit. Please try to be concise during that time,” he said. “I think there is going to be a large public turnout and a lot of input from both sides. We need to hear from both sides and everybody will be heard respectfully.”
The new town ordinance, if passed, makes certain that local medical marijuana caregiver facilities can continue serving patients at retail locations.
During a town council meeting earlier this month, the owner of a Houlton medical marijuana dispensary asked the town council to consider changing the wording of an existing town ordinance to assure medical marijuana dispensaries could continue operating.
Zach Waite, owner of Lifted Medical Marijuana in Houlton, said an updated state ruling requires that medical marijuana caregivers provide an authorization form from the town to continue serving patients in caregiver retail stories or dispensary offices.
“This is a substantial change in policy in the way we can serve our patients and will make it impossible to provide our patients with much needed medicine without your approval,” Waite explained at the time.
The state legalized the sale of recreational marijuana in 2016. But Houlton residents voted to not allow it in the town.
A 2018 town referendum vote prohibited marijuana retail establishments, retail cultivation facilities and retail marijuana social clubs. Under the proposed new ordinance, retail would still be prohibited, although an exception was added for medical marijuana caregiver retail stores.
Councilor Eileen McLaughlin said the town already voted against retail stores and the new language to the ordinance would violate the town vote.
The town attorney prepared the new ordinance to assure compliance with existing town laws, according to Houlton Town Manager Jeremy Smith.
In subsequent town council meetings, several residents expressed impassioned support and opposition for the proposed new ordinance.
Steven Cole, who supports the ordinance, encouraged people to educate themselves instead of going with popular opinion.
During Monday night’s town council meeting one resident said that she researched the topic and cited various statistics from Canada that indicated an increase in traffic accidents when marijuana was made legal.
McLaughlin said she remains concerned about the ordinance and on Monday night again expressed those concerns.
“If by adding retail does it take away the referendum that was done in the last vote? Is it something that is positive for the town or detrimental for the town and does it go against what we have already voted on,” she asked.
McLaughlin also said that she received feedback from the Sept. 2 town council meeting that she was short with a speaker about something not being truthful.
“I was out of line,” she said. “If I did offend anybody at that last meeting, I apologize.”
The first reading of the ordinance was on Sept. 9.
The public will have the opportunity to voice their views on the matter before the council votes on the ordinance during the town council meeting and a public hearing at 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Houlton Recreation Center at 128 Main Street.
“It is important that we get as much public input as possible,” Robinson said during the Sept. 2 council meeting. “I know there are various concerns. But we will make sure if you want to speak you will have the ability to voice your opinion.”
