How to get a Marijuana Business License in Maine

How to get a marijuana business license in Maine is a key question for any cannabis entrepreneur in the pine tree state.

Maine voted to legalize adult-use marijuana as early as 2016. However, there were significant setbacks along the way, mostly because of the former Governor of the state. By 2018, two drafts of the bill had been vetoed. These drafts were very restrictive in comparison to the Marijuana Legalization Act that passed on 2016.

The legislature decided to overturn the second veto, enacting LD 1719, which became law on May 2,2018. But it wasn’t until mid-2019 that a newly proposed rules to govern adult-use marijuana was signed.

The new rules went into effect in September 2019. Despite this, retail sales of adult-use marijuana didn’t start until October 9, 2020, mostly because of COVID-19.

What types of marijuana business licenses are there in Maine?

According to the Marijuana Legalization Act, there are 5 different types of adult-use cannabis licenses available in Maine:

Marijuana Cultivation Facility License (there are 4 tiers and a nursery cultivation facility license as well)
Marijuana Testing Facility License
Marijuana Manufacturing Facility License
Marijuana Store License
Sample Collector License

RELATED POST: VIRGINIA SOCIAL EQUITY CANNABIS LICENSE

Fees for a marijuana business license in Virginia

According to Maine’s legislation the licensing fees for the aforementioned licenses are as follow:

License Type	Application Fees	Licensing Fees
Marijuana Cultivation Facility License	– Tier 1: $100 – Tier 2: $500 – Tier 3: $500 – Tier 4: $500 – Nursery Cultivation Facility: $60	– Tier 1: $9/mature plant (outdoor) – $17/mature plant (indoor) – Tier 2: $1,500 (outdoor) – $3,000 (indoor) – Tier 3: $5,000 (outdoor) – $10,000 (indoor) – Tier 4: $15,000 + $5,000 for each increase in canopy size (outdoor) – $30,000 + 10,000 for each increase in canopy size (indoor) – Nursery Cultivation Facility: $350 (outdoor) – $350 (indoor)
Marijuana Testing Facility License	$250	$1,000
Marijuana Manufacturing Facility License	$250	$2,500
Marijuana Store License	$250	$2,500

Either way you have to have in mind that these costs are only the official fees in order to apply and maintain a license in the state. In order to prepare your team financially, you have to take into account real estate as well as operational/day-to-day costs to factor in how much money you will need to spend to get the operation going.

As a rule of thumb, you will probably want to budget for hundreds of thousands of dollars, to cover the entire operation.

How to get a marijuana business license in Maine?

If you want to check specific requirements so far established by Maine’s Marijuana Legalization Act, you’d probably want to check out our “Maine Marijuana License: How to Apply” post. There are also specific requirements the applicant needs to comply with depending on the desired type of license.

In general, Maine’s licensing process follow a three-step process:

Step One: Conditional Licensure

This step requires the applicants to submit a criminal history records check. If the applicant is a business entity every officer, director, manager and general partner will require a criminal history records check.

Further, any employee and each applicant for a license will be required to obtain an OMP-issued individual identification card (IIC). You can find the applications forms here. If the applicant is an entity, every officer, director, manager and general partner needs to obtain an IIC.

After this, the applicant needs to complete and submit the application for a conditional license and pay the appropriate fees.

Within 90 days, the OMP will either deny the license or issue a non-renewable conditional license which will be valid for one year.

Step Two: Local Authorization

The applicant will then need to seek local authorization. Municipalities have 90 days -and an additional 90 days in some instances- to respond to a request for local authorization.

If a community determines that a prospective licensee has satisfied all local regulations and requirements, they may choose to approve the request for local authorization.

Within 10 days of receiving an approved local authorization, OMP will request supplemental information and updated documents from the applicant.

Step Three: Active Licensure

The applicant will need to submit supplemental information, which includes:

Evidence of compliance with all electrical and permitting requirements
Appropriate tax information and documents
Any changes to original application
Updated plans on record

Once it is determined that all requirements have been met, OMP will invoice the applicant for the licensing fee.

Once payment is received, OMP will issue an active -renewable- license that will be valid for one year.

In order to obtain a cannabis business license in Maine, you should also prepare a cannabis business plan. That business plan should include the following items:

Executive Summary
Company Description
Market Analysis
Competitive Analysis
Management & Operations
Marketing and Sales
Financial Summary
Virginia-Specific Requirements

To gain perspective of your future operations, a cannabis business plan is vital, as it is the blueprint to your cannabis business.

Maine marijuana business licenses cap

Each city in the state has the possibilities of limiting the number of licenses issued at any given time. In this sense it is important to contact an expert on the matter in order to check if the locality you want to participate in has a license cap of some sort.

If you want more information regarding what could you do in order to stay compliant with the cannabis industry in Maine, don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you want to be updated on the current state of Cannabis legalization, you should check out our map of marijuana legality by state.