WELLS, Maine — Joel Pepin, owner of a local medical marijuana dispensary, sensed resistance from Planning Board members regarding his proposal to bring an adult-use cannabis store to the community during Monday’s meeting.
“I sense some personal bias against cannabis in general, which is understandable,” Pepin said. “I’m just asking, ultimately, if we can let the voters decide.”
Pepin, co-owner of JAR Consulting, one of three medical marijuana dispensaries approved to operate in Wells, and his business partners have submitted an application to amend the town’s ordinance. They seek to allow local dispensaries the option to sell either medical marijuana or adult-use cannabis, as currently, only medical marijuana is permitted in Wells.
To proceed, Pepin hopes the Planning Board will recommend his proposal to the Select Board, which could then put the matter to a town vote. However, his proposal must meet six criteria, and concerns raised by at least one Planning Board member touched on several of them.
Planning Board member Steve Koeninger expressed misgivings about Pepin’s proposal, referring to the drug-related problems that people in Maine are facing. Koeninger also noted that adult-use cannabis is not federally approved, allowed, and regulated, even though it is at the state level.
Koeninger also questioned how effectively local police could enforce preventing minors from using cannabis and motorists from driving while under the influence of the substance. He also suggested that adult-use cannabis operations do not fit in with the town’s comprehensive plan, which guides local planning and development.
“I don’t think the comprehensive plan wants to make Wells a marijuana destination,” Koeninger said.
Town Engineer Michael Livingston said the town’s comprehensive plan goes back to 2005, a time well before both medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis were approved in Maine.
But Livingston also noted that some concerns that Koeninger expressed could be reflected in the town’s criteria that need to be met for an application to advance beyond the Planning Board.
Among the criteria, a proposed amendment cannot be detrimental to the public or injurious to property and must be in accord with the town’s comprehensive plan. As well, the amendment must comply with all local, state, and federal regulations that are applicable.
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Pepin spoke to many of the concerns Koeninger and others expressed, asserting that adult-use cannabis is tested and regulated by the state and that police do have means of addressing illegal use of the drug.
During a phone interview on Wednesday, Pepin offered more points he wished to make.
For one, he maintained that the regulated cannabis industry has helped decrease the illicit market for the drug, as people can now just go buy products from legal establishments, rather than on the streets.
For another, Pepin noted that medical marijuana, which is allowed for sale in Wells, is not federally approved, allowed, and regulated, either.
“One’s not more illegal than the other,” Pepin said of the medical and recreational forms of cannabis.
At a meeting last year, Pepin told the Planning Board he was seeking the option for locally approved dispensaries to decide for themselves under which license they would want to operate – a medical one, or a recreational, adult-use one.
“It’d be either-or,” Pepin said. “We’re not trying to add more stores to what the town has already approved.”
Pepin said the medical market for cannabis was shrinking, with the adult-use recreational market beginning to take a “larger share of the pie.”
“We do feel the customer pool may be larger for adult-use cannabis down here, so that’s the main reason for it all,” he said about JAR’s application.
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While approved for construction at 279 Post Road, JAR Consulting has not been built yet. Koeninger asked Pepin if he and his business partners planned to open a medical marijuana dispensary at the site if his proposed ordinance change is rejected.
“We’re going to build the facility, regardless, yes,” Pepin replied.
JAR submitted its application to the town in July. The Wells Select Board received the application the next month and, upon review, voted to send it to the Planning Board for its examination and a public hearing.
In the months since, the Planning Board has held public hearings and has continued workshops, to give JAR time to gather information to answer questions members have had about traffic, parking, and testing methods for adult-use cannabis.
At its meeting on Monday, the Planning Board again continued its workshop for another 30 days.
Curaleaf and Hazy Hill Farm, both also located on Post Road, are the other two medical marijuana dispensaries located in Wells. In 2023, voters approved capping the number of such dispensaries in town to three.
Pepin, the president of the Maine Cannabis Industry Association, said he has worked with municipalities throughout the state as they have considered whether to “opt-in” and allow cannabis sales – medical or recreational – in their communities. He acknowledged that, for all of the progress his industry has made, there is still a stigma attached to cannabis use.
“Our challenge, as an industry, is to provide information to elected officials to help them think about the industry in a different way than the way they have been doing so,” he said.
Up in smoke? Wells dispensary owner's push for recreational marijuana faces pushback – Seacoastonline.com
