Maine has allowed prescribing, and limited possession, of medical marijuana since 1999 but the law lacked any distribution mechanism and questions arose of noncompliance with federal law and of how patients could legally obtain the prescribed marijuana.  On November 3, 2009 Maine voters approved Question 5, which enacted the citizen-initiated bill, "An act to establish the Maine Medical Marijuana Act" (LD 975, IB 2). The committee file for LD 975 contains additional information, such as the activity schedule, testimony sign-in sheet, testimony submitted at the public hearing, working papers and memoranda of the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services, and the committee vote tally sheet. (The contents of the file are not word searchable.)

Maine was the fifth state to provide for dispensaries of medical grade marijuana for persons with debilitating and chronic medical conditions. These not-for-profit dispensaries will be licensed and regulated by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

Following the November 2009 election, results were verified by the Secretary of State. Governor Baldacci's press release of November 6, 2009 detailed an executive order which set up a task force chaired by Brenda Harvey, Commissioner of DHHS. On November 17, 2009, the Governor announced the names of the members of the task force. The Task Force issued its report to the Governor on January 27, 2010. The subsequent 2010 enactment of LD 1811, the Governor's bill, paved the way for promulgation of agency rules under the Administrative Procedures Act. Emergency rules were adopted on May 5, 2010 . Only eight dispensaries (one for each of the eight districts) were approved for the first year. Instructions and applications, as well as the text of the rules, are available on DHHS' Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services webpage.

In November, 2017, a new rule was adopted that "implements changes enacted by the 126th and 127th Legislature, removes language that duplicates statutes, corrects grammatical errors, outdated language and inconsistencies, and provides clarification regarding the Department’s policies and practices specific to regulating the cultivation, dispensing and possession of marijuana for medical use." This new rule went into effect 2/1/2018 and can be viewed on the Secretary of State's website.

On June 14, 2018, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, in the case Gaetan H. Bougoin v. Twin Rivers Paper Company, LLC et al., ruled that employers need not cover the cost of medical marijuana in workers' compensation cases.

On July 7, 2018, the Legislature overrode vetoes of two bills that significantly amend the medical marijuana laws in Maine. 128th LDs 238 and 1539 became law as P.L. 2017, ch. 447 and 452, respectively.

In addition, P.L. 2017, ch. 409, relating to adult use marijuana, transferred the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Program to the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Business Management.

For more recent developments see news article links below.

Please also see our compiled legislative history on medical marijuana and our webpage on recreational marijuana law in Maine.

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