LEWISTON, Maine - Activists seeking to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Lewiston delivered a final batch of signatures that they say should ensure that the issue will be on the fall ballot. The Lewiston effort is the latest of several local marijuana initiatives in Maine this year.
As members of the Marijuana Policy Project delivered the last of what they say is over 1,200 to Lewiston City Hall, the groups political director, David Boyer, explained to reporters what the initiative would, and wouldn't, do.
"All this does is remove penalties for small amounts of marijuana possession, in the use of their home in private," Boyer said. "It doesn't allow for public use or display by adults 21 and older, so not really much would change in Lewiston, other than Lewiston police spending their time a little more wisely and adults not being steered to use the more harmful substance of alcohol."
Boyer says, if approved, the initiative would eliminate unnecessary punishments for adults who are convicted of marijuana use, including the loss of employment and college scholarships. "Those are things that we can change without legalizing the drug," he says.
Scott Gagnon is a substance abuse prevention manager with Health Androscoggin, and state director of Smart Approaches To Marijuana. He says Androscoggin County saw a 50 percent increase in marijuana use by middle school students from 2011 to 2012. He agrees that changes should be made to marijuana laws to make them less punitive, but without further exposing young people to marijuana use.
"I would welcome both sides of this conversation to come together and find common ground in addressing some of these issues," Gagnon says, "But increasing access, increasing public health and youth risk, that's just not the way to solve it."
Gagnon says possession of less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana has already been decriminalized, and the real effect of legalization initiatives is to allow the establishment of a big marijuana industry.
David Boyer of the Marijuana Policy Project, which is also orchestrating a state-wide referendum effort on legalizing pot, says the focus is on Lewiston now, because it's Maine's second-largest city, and Portland voters have already approved a similar measure. And, says Boyer, Lewiston is considered a "swing city" in this year's gubernatorial race.
"Even though Democrats have an edge in the city, Gov. LePage won Lewiston in 2010 and it's going to very competitive in this gubernatorial, so it's a way to raise awareness in this race," Boyer says. "Voters should know where their gubernatorial candidates stand on this issue, especially as they're going to be overseeing implementation of this law when it most likely does pass statewide in 2015 in the Legislature, or 2016 in our initiative."
Boyer says several Lewiston city councilors have signed the petition, and the council could vote on the initiative itself, or send it along to voters in November.
The group is behind similar efforts in York and South Portland, which have been met with resistance from local officials.
