Election Day has arrived and on the night before Mainers take to the polls to decide if the state should legalize recreational marijuana, Portland City Council voted against a measure introduced hours before that hoped to enact a six-month moratorium on retail marijuana sites within the city.
Now, according to the Bangor Daily News, the proposed moratorium will come up for a vote at the next council meeting. Many councilors voiced their concerns that enacting the moratorium just hours before election could give voters the impression that the city was taking a position on Question 1 and could influence the vote.
Portland is just the latest municipality in the state weighing a possible moratorium on recreational retail marijuana shops and social clubs. Bangor, Brewer, Gray, Westbrook, Bangor and New Gloucester have already instituted similar moratoriums and according to the BDN, other municipalities are weighing their options on the bans.
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