Last November voters in Portland, Maine voted to legalize marijuana. Portland became the first city on the East Coast to legalize marijuana. The ordinance passed by a landslide, winning roughly 67% of the vote last November. It appears that another city in Maine might legalize marijuana as well. Per WCSH6:
South Portland is poised to become the next Maine community to vote on the recreational use of marijuana.
On Monday night, city councilors voted unanimously in favor of scheduling a second reading of a measure to legalize marijuana, scheduled for August 18. The group Citizens for a Safer Maine collected more than enough signatures from South Portland residents to put the issue in front of the city.
If approved, the measure would make it legal to possess up to one ounce of marijuana. Consuming marijuana in public, cultivating marijuana, selling marijuana, and consuming marijuana in public would all remain illegal. How the City of South Portland would react to such a vote will have to wait to be seen. I’d expect police to still enforce state law, but maybe they will be sensible. A victory in South Portland would help the chances of Maine’s Legislature legalizing marijuana during the next session, or of an initiative victory in 2016, both of which have great chances of happening in my opinion.
