Lawmakers consider delaying marijuana ‘Social clubs’ in Maine

August, ME. – Lawmakers are debating whether or not to delay licensing marijuana “social clubs” in Maine because of concerns about public health and federal law.Not thrilled with the delay, legalization advocates and everyone who supported the bill to be past in the last election are stuck in a government time framed situation. Bright side - these same people are happy that club licensing was not totally stripped out of the bill, which is a legislative rewrite of last November’s successful initiative.

So what does the Law actually say about Smoking in Public?

The legalization poll includes references throughout the ballot initiative to “social clubs” where citizens age 21 and over can buy and consume recreational marijuana on premises. The original plan was sought out to have  'Social Clubs' established where users could legally smoke and gather – similar to a bar or smoking lounge.  The use of marijuana would be carefully controlled in a private location.[parallax] [/parallax] California and Colorado have been a few states where marijuana legislature has developed sooner than any other state with medical marijuana and law,  However, Maine could be the first state to permit marijuana clubs – a prospect that clearly concerned some lawmakers because the state is not ready to deal with the taxing on such products.While the bill does not expressly prohibit smoking in the social clubs, it does nothing to protect cannabis from falling under Maine’s statewide no-smoking laws. This means that cannabis social clubs would be limited to selling edibles or tinctures.We all hope that one day we can smoke a doobie at a restaurant while watching a sporting event. There is some planning and federal action to be legitimized before we can get there, however the fight has not been lost yet.