AUGUSTA (WGME) -- The 4th annual Home Grown Maine expo kicked off this weekend at the Augusta Civic Center. It’s a medical marijuana trade show for companies that sell pot related items.
   
Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine started the trade show to educate people about the health benefits of marijuana.

Patients say pot changed their life. "My doctor said I was a nut for trying medical marijuana, they said the tumor would come back and kill me within the first year and now I’m a four year survivor. This is truly a medicine. We are helping a lot of people. We have cancer patients, aids patients, pain patients getting off from opiate addiction. There's a lot of good stuff happening in this industry," Frank Lumay, patient, said.

A legislative committee has voted to reject a bill seeking to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Maine, but supporters say the real fight will be on the House floor.

Democratic Rep. Diane Russell's bill was rejected Thursday by the criminal justice committee and would have allowed people 21 and older to have as much as one ounce of pot. It would also set a 10 percent tax rate on marijuana sales, The Press Herald reports.

The tax revenues would go to public school construction, substance abuse programs, drug and alcohol awareness among youth and regulation.

Under a compromise unveiled Thursday, the bill would allow up to 45 marijuana retail stores around the state.

An effort to establish a legal standard for operating under the influence of marijuana has stalled in the Maine Legislature, but another proposal could come with input from advocates by next year.

Medical marijuana is legal in Maine, while driving under the influence of marijuana and other drugs is already prohibited. But unlike alcohol, there’s no legal limit that indicates intoxication.

Everything from antacids to frozen veggies has a label detailing nutritional values and active ingredients, but when it comes to cannabis that information has been sorely lacking. How does one know how much to ingest or inhale if potency information is lacking?

Sage Analytics has an answer. The company, one of 162 exhibitors at last week's Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Chicago, wants to bring pharmaceutical-level testing to the cannabis industry with the Luminary Profiler, a black box that measures potency on-site within seconds. Marijuana leaves are sprinkled or extracts are dripped onto a lens that uses spectroscopy "to instantly measure the potency of cannabis products on the molecular level," the company's literature says.

A striking feature of the rollout of the state-legalized retail sales of marijuana has been the tremendous popularity of edible marijuana products. Marijuana brownies have long been a staple of cannabis coffee shops in the Netherlands, but the new products are quite different. They are skillfully produced and packaged to closely mimic popular candies and other sweets. These products can now be purchased legally in four states; retail stores are operating in Colorado and Washington State, and voters recently approved retail sales in Alaska and Oregon.

Opponents and supporters packed the State House Tuesday as the Criminal Justice Committee heard two bills that would legalize recreational marijuana.

Those who favor it say it's inevitable. Opponents argue it is too soon to move forward with the plan.

"Marijuana prohibition hasn't worked. It is there. It is everywhere. The question is can we bring it under the umbrella of government regulation." said Representative Mark Dion (D).

Dion and Rep. Diane Russell each presented a bill that commercialize marijuana. They said legalizing marijuana would not only provide a boost to the economy, but help regulate the drug to keep children safe.

A remarkable breakthrough for medical marijuana patient rights just passed a hurdle in Maine, a state with one of the most progressive medical marijuana programs in the country. Their latest move comes in the form of an unprecedented bill that has not been introduced in any other state yet.

Why are we, two cops-turned-legislators, trying to legalize pot? Because it’s going to happen, and we want to make sure the approach Maine takes is safe, successful, regulated and taxed. The time to legalize is now so our representatives don’t fall behind the voters. We must be proactive, not reactive.

Nationally, momentum is building in favor of a better approach to marijuana than our current, outdated laws allow. Locally, a recent poll found that 65 percent of Maine voters agree; they believe adult-use marijuana should be legal if it is strictly controlled and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol.

BANGOR, Maine — A health care company that operates walk-in clinics in five states that specialize in qualifying people to use medical marijuana recently expanded into Maine, with locations in Bangor, Augusta, Biddeford, and a fourth planned for Auburn.

AUGUSTA, Maine — The state agency charged with running Maine’s medical marijuana system wants more oversight of the more than 1,700 people who cultivate small amounts of medicinal marijuana for patients.

The small cultivators, known as caregivers, can serve as many as five patients, and grow no more than six plants per patient. In most cases, they must register with the state.

But the Department of Health and Human Services has no means of enforcing rules that require caregivers to follow the medical marijuana law, said Ken Albert, a former DHHS regulator who now runs the Maine Center for Disease Control.