Moving Forward With Potential Ban of the Sale of Intoxicating Hemp-Derived Products
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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—The town of Southwest Harbor, August 12, placed an ordinance on a moratorium on tobacco stores on the November 4 ballot and moved forward with another measure on potentially intoxicating hemp-derived products with chemically derived THC in them.
During its Tuesday evening meeting, the Southwest Harbor Select Board proceeded with ordinance language that calls for a retroactive moratorium on tobacco stores, which are stores that principally market and sell tobacco.
“As I was directed, it’s a moratorium on, which is a temporary hold, a six-month hold, if the voters approve that, on tobacco specialty stores, so that that type of establishment wouldn’t be permitted and built if the voters decide that’s not what they want, based on this language of this ordinance,” said Town Manager Karen Reddersen said.
The moratorium prohibits them in the town for its six-month duration. The town currently does not host a smoke shop, vape shop, or tobacco specialty store.
It does not ban the tobacco or the vapes in regular stores and businesses.
The wording of the moratorium states that a reason for the moratorium is that “tobacco products have been demonstrated to pose significant risks to public health, including increased risks of cancers, heart disease, and lung disease.”
It also speaks to the addictive nature of nicotine, which is used in many tobacco products and writes, “so-called ‘vape’ products are becoming increasingly popular among young people who may not have a history of tobacco use.”
Select Board Member Natasha Johnson participated in the discussion but abstained from voting, saying that she felt more comfortable abstaining because she co-owns The Meristem, a cannabis store in Southwest Harbor.
POSSIBLE INTOXICATING HEMP DERIVED PRODUCTS BAN MOVES FORWARD
Alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis products are regulated in various ways by town, state, and federal governments.
In Maine, those intoxicating hemp-derived products do not have those regulations and aren’t currently covered by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy except for a new age restriction passed by the Maine Legislature. There is potential Maine and federal regulation in the pipeline.
Southwest Harbor has been discussing a moratorium on the hemp-derived products, as has the Town of Mount Desert and the League of Towns, a regional group of town administrators with talk leaning toward a region-wide moratorium where each town would have to approve the ban.
“In working with legal counsel, they did not recommend a moratorium for intoxicating hemp-derived products or chemically-derived THC products,” Reddersen told the select board members. “They’re recommending an ordinance banning the sale, and they feel like that’s the most defensible, and it’s aligned with, in their words, banning of certain tobacco products that have gone for court action, and so that is their recommendation to take that pathway.”
On Tuesday, Southwest Harbor Select Board Chair Noah Burby asked that if the original intent of a moratorium on those products was to pause the sale in town until the state legislature begins work on potential laws in January 2026, how quickly could the town repeal an ordinance.
Town Clerk Jennifer LaHaye said. “You would just call a special town meeting. So with the moratorium, you would have the authority to then decide every six months whether or not you wanted to continue that moratorium if it was passed at town meeting. This would be essentially be the ordinance and then you would just need to repeal it when the time came.”
Member Carolyn Ball said she worried about having to repeal the ordinance if it is placed on the November 4 ballot and approved by voters.
“I’m just having another thought. And we would want to do this because. .. Right now, hemp intoxicating products are out there already, and we want to stop that from occurring at the corner market or any of our places,” Ball continued. “This would give us the opportunity to do so.”
“Yes. The attorneys have shared that it also gives the chief some ability to enforce that because of the way this is documented,” Reddersen added.
Recently, the state banned the sale of these products to people under 21. However, Burby said that ban “has no enforcement mechanism.”
If the town passes the ordinance, age wouldn’t matter.
“This past weekend, I went to a store that sells all kinds of different products from meats and bread to all kinds of things, seltzer to…other product. And they had a very large display of La Croix seltzer and energy drinks and organic, unsweetened, raspberry iced tea. And right in the middle of all of these non-intoxicating drinks, seltzer, for example, was a display of THC drinks right in the middle of them,” Johnson said. “So they’re on shelves that are accessible by youth and are not separated like you would have a beer cooler, for example. For me, that’s extremely bothersome.”
The co-owner of Meristem said that he’d like his state-regulated store to be exempt from any potential ban.
“We do have a fair number of people who frequent our shop, who use products that would fall under that banner technically in a in a medicinal way,” Tyler Johnson said. “And in some of the formulations, for example, that we carry, we carry some very unique and novel cannabinoids. That are non-intoxicating, but when combined with a small amount of the active ingredient of Delta-9 THC, nothing chemically derived, nothing synthesized, but the natural product. When used in concert with some of those other novel cannabinoids, our customers expressed that they have very therapeutic effects.”
The board agreed to have Reddersen discuss that possible exemption for licensed cannabis retail establishments with the town’s attorney.
Police Chief John Hall said, “My concern when I was reading both the marijuana policy and the proposed hemp policy was one, the safety of the kids. That’s kind of what we’re talking about. Other towns have talked about it also. And I was trying to, how am I going to enforce this?”
However, he said, the Meristem exemption made him feel more comfortable.
”This literally takes everything away that I had for concern for the whole product. So he asked for an exemption in the ordinance so that the only place that is sold is in that controlled atmosphere,” Chief Hall said of Tyler Johnson’s earlier statements. “I don’t have to worry about the kids taking it. I don’t have to worry about a store, a salesman going into a store and saying, ‘Hey, we will set this product up and I’ll be back tomorrow.’”
Reddersen was also directed to present a modified ordinance at the August 26 meeting. Johnson abstained from voting on the motions.
CAUSEWAY CLUB
The board renewed a liquor license and a liquor auxiliary license for the Causeway Club, Inc.: at the request of Causeway Club, at 10 Fernald Point Rd.
LaHaye informed the board, as she does every year, that her husband is employed by the Causeway Club. LaHaye does not vote on the licenses.
AUDIT OVERVIEW
Auditor Ron Bean, of James Wadman in Ellsworth, gave an overview of the FY24 Audit-July 1, 2023 to June 30,2024 for the town.
The audit report found, “In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, each major and the aggregate remaining fund information fund of the Town of Southwest Harbor, Maine, as of June 30, 2024, and the respective changes in financial position thereof for the fiscal year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”
The town received a clean (or unmodified) opinion. The unassigned fund balance for the town, he said, was at 12.5%; the state recommends a minimum of 10-12% for municipalities.
“So 12.5% is probably getting a little on the cool side. You know, the surplus is really intended to help if something unexpected happens during the course of the year that you need to have a special town meeting to ask to fund something,” Bean said. “It’s also utilized to reduce future tax credits. So, although the number is fairly healthy, we still, as compared to a percentage of your expenditures, it’s getting a little bit on the low side.”
QUICK NOTE: There will be another story stemming from last night’s meeting.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Hemp-Derived THC Drinks Face Potential Problems in Southwest Harbo
“This Is Not Going Away.”
More about the Select Board and contact information.
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