Kittery nets $535K in fee income alone as cannabis store applicants roll in
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Findings of a new report by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy suggest the adult-use recreational market for cannabis has reduced illicit use.
No, this isn’t a Powerball jackpot, but maybe it’s close.
While nearly 100 Maine towns and cities now allow recreational marijuana businesses, there’s especially hot demand for permission to purvey pot in Kittery.
The town, which in August passed an ordinance allowing up to three retailers of recreational or medical-use cannabis, has received over 700 applications for the slots, according to the town website. At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Kittery officials are scheduled to draw three balls from a raffle cage to decide who the lucky winners are.
The rush to open pot shops in the town of 9,900 people may have something to do with its proximity to New Hampshire, just across the Piscataqua River. The Granite State does not allow the sale of recreational marijuana.
Setting up shop for the recreational market in Maine is a three-step process that involves state applications as well as a license from the municipality where a business plans to operate. Kittery began accepting applications for its licenses Sept. 8, a month after the town ordinance went into effect. Retailers must also submit a pre-application, and that’s the process that has drawn hundreds of hopeful cannabis merchants.
Legal cannabis is already a significant revenue generator for the town. The pre-application process requires a $750 fee, so Kittery is receiving an infusion of at least $535,000 from the exercise.
A single shop will be allowed in each of three zones within Kittery. Applicants are allowed to make multiple submissions for one zone, and the deadline for submissions was Friday.
After reviewing the submissions, the town plans to assign a number to each pre-applicant, and balls with each number will be placed in the raffle cage.
“The cage will be turned no fewer than three times to sufficiently mix up the numbered balls. Then the first ball will be drawn from the cage and the ascribed number on the ball read aloud,” a town document reads.
Numbers that aren’t drawn will be held to create a waiting list for the pre-application process.
For those who can’t make the drawing, the town says it will name the winners on its website Friday morning.
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