KITTERY, Maine – Professionals who work in the marijuana
industry addressed Kittery residents and answered questions during a
forum held by the town’s marijuana working group on Thursday night at
Traip Academy.
The three panelists provided insight on legalized marijuana and two of whom shared their backgrounds from working in the medicinal cannabis field.
“When the initiative passed we realized that we don’t know enough about marijuana; we don’t know what it means, we don’t know how it works and we don’t know what the impact is,” said Town Manager Kendra Amaral. “So the working group decided, in part of our due-diligence, that we were also going to provide information to the public so that you could understand the same things that we’re trying to understand and you could get the information that we’re trying to gather and we can all be thoughtful on how we all want to move forward.”
One panelist was David Boyer, who is the Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. The group helped advance the direct ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Maine.
The group works in all 50 states to work to end the prohibition on marijuana. He gave an update where the Maine state legislature was in putting the statewide framework in place to sell adult-use recreational marijuana. He said the earliest retail stores would open at the current pace would be the summer of 2018.
“The (joint select committee on marijuana legalization and implementation) has been meeting two to three times a week for the last four or five months and it’s been kind of slow in my opinion, but there’s definitely a concern of getting this right, which I can appreciate,” said Boyer. “All in and all if the members of the committee are getting an education on marijuana, on balance, that’s a good thing because ignorance creates bad laws.”
The other two panelists, Joseph Lusardi and Anthony Dalessandro, are both medical marijuana providers. Dalessandro is the president and founder of Trillium Botanicals. He has developed sustainable growing practices in his role as a cultivator and he works with patients with a variety of conditions. He said part of his work is to educate patients on alternative ways to ingest cannabis, aside from smoking. He said his specialty was ready dose infusions, where a measured amount of cannabis material is given to a patient for a specific purpose.
“You don’t have to smoke the cannabis for it to be effective, it’s actually a lot better if you don’t smoke it,” said Dalessandro. “Smoking is good because it’s immediate, and you can tell how much you need by using a little bit and waiting 15 minutes. Edibles are sort of controversial; they’re great if they’re labeled well and you can take a little and see how it makes you feel, they’re problematic if they’re really strong and you don’t know it.”
Lusardi is the executive director of Maine Organic Therapy and is a licensed grower and dispenser. He operates a grow facility in Biddeford and a dispensary in Ellsworth, which was the first licensed dispensary in Maine after medicinal marijuana was legalized in 2009. He said his operation donates $1,000 to local charities every month.
Lusardi said he thought the major benefit to Kittery would be a reduction in drug-related crime because residents would have a legal place to purchase marijuana and the town would stand to gain more tax revenue.
“By having a place that is a safe, discreet dispensary for your
citizens to go to, I do believe black market crime would move to another
town,” said Lusardi. “Currently what’s been talked in the committee is
putting a 10 percent tax on top of the 5.5 percent tax that already
exists, so it’d be a 15.5 percent with 2.5 (percent) of that going back
the communities.”
During the question and answer segment, Amaral said based on feedback the working group received from a poll designed to better clarify what Kittery voters wanted when they voted in favor of marijuana legalization in November that Kittery residents were open to having some kind of legal marijuana infrastructure in town but it would need to be restricted.
There was a degree of skepticism on the part of some residents in attendance as to how recreational marijuana would be rolled out in Kittery, but many were also in favor of the town moving forward to allow a limited number of retail stores once it is legal to do so.
“A majority of people in Kittery voted for legalization,” said resident Wendy Turner. “I’m personally in favor of retail outlets in Kittery because they would grow the tax base and it would regulate access to minors. Kittery would be missing a real opportunity if the town chooses to ban retail.”
The three panelists provided insight on legalized marijuana and two of whom shared their backgrounds from working in the medicinal cannabis field.
“When the initiative passed we realized that we don’t know enough about marijuana; we don’t know what it means, we don’t know how it works and we don’t know what the impact is,” said Town Manager Kendra Amaral. “So the working group decided, in part of our due-diligence, that we were also going to provide information to the public so that you could understand the same things that we’re trying to understand and you could get the information that we’re trying to gather and we can all be thoughtful on how we all want to move forward.”
One panelist was David Boyer, who is the Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. The group helped advance the direct ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Maine.
The group works in all 50 states to work to end the prohibition on marijuana. He gave an update where the Maine state legislature was in putting the statewide framework in place to sell adult-use recreational marijuana. He said the earliest retail stores would open at the current pace would be the summer of 2018.
“The (joint select committee on marijuana legalization and implementation) has been meeting two to three times a week for the last four or five months and it’s been kind of slow in my opinion, but there’s definitely a concern of getting this right, which I can appreciate,” said Boyer. “All in and all if the members of the committee are getting an education on marijuana, on balance, that’s a good thing because ignorance creates bad laws.”
The other two panelists, Joseph Lusardi and Anthony Dalessandro, are both medical marijuana providers. Dalessandro is the president and founder of Trillium Botanicals. He has developed sustainable growing practices in his role as a cultivator and he works with patients with a variety of conditions. He said part of his work is to educate patients on alternative ways to ingest cannabis, aside from smoking. He said his specialty was ready dose infusions, where a measured amount of cannabis material is given to a patient for a specific purpose.
“You don’t have to smoke the cannabis for it to be effective, it’s actually a lot better if you don’t smoke it,” said Dalessandro. “Smoking is good because it’s immediate, and you can tell how much you need by using a little bit and waiting 15 minutes. Edibles are sort of controversial; they’re great if they’re labeled well and you can take a little and see how it makes you feel, they’re problematic if they’re really strong and you don’t know it.”
Lusardi is the executive director of Maine Organic Therapy and is a licensed grower and dispenser. He operates a grow facility in Biddeford and a dispensary in Ellsworth, which was the first licensed dispensary in Maine after medicinal marijuana was legalized in 2009. He said his operation donates $1,000 to local charities every month.
Lusardi said he thought the major benefit to Kittery would be a reduction in drug-related crime because residents would have a legal place to purchase marijuana and the town would stand to gain more tax revenue.
During the question and answer segment, Amaral said based on feedback the working group received from a poll designed to better clarify what Kittery voters wanted when they voted in favor of marijuana legalization in November that Kittery residents were open to having some kind of legal marijuana infrastructure in town but it would need to be restricted.
There was a degree of skepticism on the part of some residents in attendance as to how recreational marijuana would be rolled out in Kittery, but many were also in favor of the town moving forward to allow a limited number of retail stores once it is legal to do so.
“A majority of people in Kittery voted for legalization,” said resident Wendy Turner. “I’m personally in favor of retail outlets in Kittery because they would grow the tax base and it would regulate access to minors. Kittery would be missing a real opportunity if the town chooses to ban retail.”
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