Maine receives dozens of marijuana business applications in first week

The state says it has taken 76 applications since Dec. 5, with 38 for retail stores, 27 for cultivation facilities and 11 for manufacturing operations.

AUGUSTA — The first week of applications to open marijuana businesses in Maine has been busy, with dozens of prospective businesses lining up to sell, grow or make edible products with the newly legal drug.

The state started taking the applications on Dec. 5 and it has received 76 of them so far, the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy said. Thirty-eight of the applications are for retail stores, 27 are for cultivation facilities and 11 are for manufacturing facilities, said David Heidrich, a spokesman for the office.

The facilities also need local approval from municipalities to open. But they don’t yet need brick-and-mortar stores, and that could be motivating marijuana entrepreneurs to test the waters, said David Boyer, an industry consultant who helped lead the state’s legalization drive.

“You don’t even need to have a building or a town, you just need to have a dream,” Boyer said. “When the town opts in, you can apply for the local license.”

Maine voters approved legal sales of marijuana for adult use in a November 2016 vote. It’s one of a growing number of states to go legal, although the process of developing regulations and licensing businesses has been slow. [Read More @ The Portland Press Herald]