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September 25, 2017

Marijuana social club rules likely to ban smoking

The 128th Legislature is considering a bill to license marijuana social clubs, but it doesn’t include an exemption to the state’s law that bans smoking in public places.

The Portland Press Herald reported that means the clubs would be limited to the sale of marijuana edibles or tinctures that patrons would use on site. 

State Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation, told the PPH, the committee had consensus on keeping the smoking ban intact.

The bill would likely allow club licensing by June 2019 at the earliest.

David Boyer, director of the Maine chapter of the Marijuana Policy Project, told the Press Herald that cannabis social clubs should have the same rights as alcohol and tobacco clubs.

“Bars can have outside smoking patios. And cigar clubs, they certainly allow smoking,” Boyers said.

Boyer’s organization is considering a petition drive in Portland to establish local licensing rules for social clubs.

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