Medical marijuana dispensaries and caregivers could join Maine’s new adult-use market under a proposed rewrite of the state legalization act.

A draft bill released Monday would let Maine’s eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries apply for a license to sell recreational cannabis, but they could not sell medical and recreational products at the same counter, said Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, co-chair of the state marijuana committee tasked with crafting new adult-use regulations. Like Colorado, Maine would require separate medical and adult-use entrances to a dual-licensed dispensary.

State-certified caregivers also could apply for a recreational retail-sales license, as long as they don’t sell their adult-use products at the same counter or point of sale as their medicine, Katz said. Medical marijuana would be taxed at a lower rate than recreational marijuana – 5.5 percent compared with 20 percent – and generally has lower levels of THC, the psychoactive agent in cannabis.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do yet on this bill,” Katz said. “We’ve worked on it for months, but it’s a rough draft. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions that we have to work out. Some of those questions, we’re looking to the public for answers. We want to hear what they have to say. I’m sure it will be a vibrant discussion.” [Read more at Portland Press Herald]