PORTLAND, Maine - Portland police have issued several citations for possession of small amounts of marijuana despite a city ordinance legalizing recreational use of the drug.
Portland in 2013 became the first city on the East Coast to pass an ordinance legalizing the drug. But the Portland Press Herald reports that police issued nearly two dozen marijuana citations over the first nine months of the year _ 30 percent of which involved a traffic violation.
Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck called it troubling that police are seeing people driving under the influence of marijuana.
Marijuana use is prohibited in public and while driving in Portland. Sauschuck says the department is also enforcing the state law that prohibits use of marijuana without a doctor's recommendation.