Maine drops residency requirement for recreational marijuana businesses

You no longer have to be a Maine resident to open a recreational marijuana business in Maine.

The state and Wellness Connection of Maine reached a legal agreement Monday stipulating that the Office of Marijuana Policy will no longer enforce a residency requirement on those seeking an adult-use cannabis business license.

The decision essentially invites out-of-state investors into Maine’s projected $180 million a year adult-use market.

“Access to capital is crucial in this industry if you want to be successful, not just for Wellness, but for the broader industry, too,” Wellness attorney Matt Warner said. “The residency requirement was the single biggest impediment to getting the industry off the ground quickly and efficiently.”

The courts have struck down residency requirements on constitutional grounds before, but never in the cannabis industry, which is still outlawed by federal law. The lawsuit Wellness filed in March marked the first time a marijuana company had challenged the constitutionality of the licensing preference.

Other legalized states such as Colorado and Oregon have abandoned resident-only licensing mandates in cannabis for policy reasons, not legal ones, after realizing the policy had cut their businesses off from the out-of-state investments needed to succeed. [Read more at Portland Press Herald]