PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Portland will delay issuing licenses for businesses to sell recreational marijuana, though other places in Maine are still scheduled to open adult use pot dispensaries in October.
On Friday, a federal court blocked the city of Portland’s plan to select applicants for the 20 licenses it will distribute to sell recreational marijuana, the Portland Press Herald reported.
“The court’s decision will delay the award of any retail licenses,” city spokeswoman Dena Libner told the newspaper on Monday.
The court’s decision came in favor of the plaintiff, a large distributor of medical marijuana, Wellness Connection, which sued the city arguing its criteria for selecting businesses to award recreational pot licenses was unconstitutional, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Specifically, Wellness Connection argued the city’s plan to favor businesses that were based in Maine and paid taxes there violated protections for interstate commerce. The company is owned by a corporation registered in Delaware.
Maine voters approved a ballot initiative to allow recreational marijuana usage in 2016. There are currently eight medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, and Wellness Connection operates four of those dispensaries.
In May, Wellness Connections reached a settlement with the state of Maine in a similar suit that it would not enforce a part of a state law that required a majority of the ownership of any new recreational marijuana business to be state residents, the newspaper reported.
Portland voters will have the opportunity to approve a ballot initiative to lift the city’s cap on the number of recreational marijuana outlets in November.
