For Immediate Release: September 20, 2019
Contact: David Heidrich, (207) 624-7491
Director of Engagement and Community Outreach, Office of Marijuana Policy
PLEASE NOTE: The information contained below related to BioTrackTHC is outdated and maintained for archival purposes only.
AUGUSTA – The Office of Marijuana Policy (OCP), a part of the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS), today provided stakeholders and interested members of the public with an update on its current and future rulemaking activity.
OCP was established by the Mills Administration in February to oversee Maine’s existing medical marijuana program and implement the voter-approved Marijuana Legalization Act. Its first rulemaking began in late March and has continued since then in both the adult use and medical use of marijuana programs.
On Thursday, LD 719, An Act To Amend the Adult Use Marijuana Law, went into effect with other nonemergency legislation from the First Regular Session of the 129th Legislature. LD 719 makes several changes to the Marijuana Legalization Act including an amendment to the Maine Food Law to no longer consider edibles produced with recreational marijuana as adulterated, allowing the entry of certain vendors into the limited access areas of licensees, and authorizing the department to impose an administrative hold on a licensee. With LD 719 becoming law, OCP is poised to complete final adoption of Maine’s adult use rules within the next 60 days.
“The Office of Marijuana Policy has worked diligently since being established in February to complete the work required to establish a regulatory framework for Maine’s adult use marijuana industry,” said OCP Director Erik Gundersen. "While our rulemaking activity has been at the forefront of this effort, we have spent the last several months developing forms and applications; developing an online platform for the application process; preparing to deploy our track and trace system; and engaging with industry stakeholders, other state agencies, and members of the public on our work. We look forward to completing final adoption of our adult use rules and moving that much closer to accepting adult use facility applications."
In other rulemaking-related news, a preliminary draft rule related to the tracking and tracing of products in the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Program is currently available for review on the OCP website: https://www.maine.gov/dafs/ocp/medical-use/rules-statutes/rulemaking/draft-rules. Parties interested in providing feedback in response to the preliminary draft rules may do so through the following page: https://www.maine.gov/dafs/ocp/medical-use/rules-statutes/rulemaking/feedback.
One aspect of this soon-to-be-proposed rule will be the introduction of “plant-only tracking” for certain registered caregivers who do not operate a caregiver retail store. Plant-only tracking would allow vertically integrated, registered caregivers who directly serve certified patients without transferring marijuana and marijuana products to other caregivers, dispensaries, or marijuana manufacturing facilities to only tag and track the plants they own. Such a proposal would reduce the number of BioTrackTHC security tags—which cost $0.25 each—required to be used by the caregiver.
“A track and trace system helps ensure the health and safety of consumers of medical and adult use marijuana and assists in preventing diversion to an unregulated market,” added Gundersen. “The introduction of plant-only tracking is the recognition that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work with the diverse group of caregivers operating within our medical program. Our goal is to ensure smaller caregivers can focus on what matters most—ensuring patient access to the medicine they need.”
As with other rules proposed by the department, OCP will be scheduling a public hearing and conducting a public comment period. Specific dates will be announced once drafting of the rule is complete and it is formally proposed by the office.
Finally, OCP also plans to propose rules for the licensing of marijuana testing facilities and will be spending time drafting and proposing revisions to the existing Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Program Rule to reflect legislative changes made during both the 128th and 129th Legislatures. Recently completed rulemaking activity includes the emergency adoption and simultaneous proposal of adult use marijuana testing facility certification rules earlier this month.
###