Comment on Maine lawmakers trying to rein in large medical marijuana growers

Sen. Eric Brakey and Rep. Patricia Hymanson, co-chairs of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, listen to testimony Wednesday from Erica Haywood, a medical marijuana caregiver from Farmington. The committee heard testimony on bills that would overhaul the state’s medical marijuana caregiver program. Staff photo by Joe Phelan AUGUSTA — State lawmakers want to overhaul Maine’s medical marijuana caregiver program. On Wednesday, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee held hearings on seven new medical cannabis bills, ranging from a plan to tax adult-use cannabis to pay for medical cannabis testing to a bill that would allow opioid addicts to qualify for medical cannabis certification. Over and over again, lawmakers and even some caregivers admitted the network that was once based on a neighbor-helping-neighbor philosophy had exploded in size and scale, warranting a new way to license and regulate an increasingly sophisticated industry. Some lawmakers, like Rep.