After months of reviewing applications, the Office of Marijuana Policy on Friday made public for the first time the list of about 400 people who are applying for more than 200 state licenses to cash in on Maine’s long-awaited recreational marijuana market.
The list includes some surnames familiar to many Mainers, such as Baldacci, as well as those who may seem destined for a cannabis economy, such as Stoner. Applicants are seeking to do business throughout Maine, from Kittery to Presque Isle, under corporate names ranging from Green Cures to Weed Mart.
As of Friday, Maine has received applications for four nurseries, 81 cultivation facilities, 30 bakeries and extraction labs, and 99 retail stores, according to state Office of Marijuana Policy data. Many of the individual business license applications list multiple would-be business owners.
The office expects to issue its first conditional licenses soon, according to director Erik Gundersen.
But a conditional state license is just the first step in a three-stage licensing process. The applicant must obtain local authorization, which can take anywhere from two weeks to a year depending on the town or city, before the business can return to the state to obtain a final active license.
Maine won’t issue active licenses until it has a testing lab ready, with all its licenses and certifications, to run the health, safety and potency tests required under state law. Currently, four labs are thinking about entering the Maine market, Gundersen said, but only one is close to being fully licensed.
To avoid a rush on one or two shops, the state will wait until there are enough fully licensed retail shops ready to operate before it finally allows them to begin selling to consumers, Gundersen said. He wouldn’t say how many shops needed to be ready for the state to set a launch date, but he expects a late spring opening.
State budget forecasters expect the first recreational shops to open in June, more than three years after voters legalized adult-use cannabis in 2016. Despite the delay, the longest of any state in the nation to pass legalization, forecasters are banking on a robust kickoff – $5 million in sales in that first month.
This story will be updated.
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