Southwest Harbor Moves Toward Moratorium Vote on Intoxicating Hemp Drinks, Other Towns Wait for the State

Carrie Jones

Sep 24, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.

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MOUNT DESERT ISLAND REGION—The towns in the Mount Desert Island region, including Ellsworth, Lamoine, and Trenton, will likely not have a unified effort when it comes to the sale of potentially intoxicating hemp products.

Currently, people can go to a convenience store, bar, or restaurant in Hancock County and buy a drink that contains hemp-derived Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

The intoxicating products aren’t currently regulated, which has worried some town officials in the region, particularly in Southwest Harbor and Mount Desert.

The sale of intoxicating hemp-derived drinks and gummies and other products could have been paused under moratoriums in multiple MDI towns if brought to the voters in each town. However, it currently looks like only Southwest Harbor voters will face that possibility in November. That town has offered other towns and Ellsworth a copy of its draft ordinance.

New Mount Desert Town Manager Alex Kimball updated Mount Desert’s position to the League of Towns (LOT), during its meeting, September 23. The LOT is a collaborative unit of government serving Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Ellsworth, Lamoine, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Swans Island, Tremont, Trenton, and Acadia National Park.

“Timing-wise, I think getting anything before this gets the LD1920 might be a bit of a struggle, so we’re going to defer to that, even though I think ideally they would have preferred something” to do something else, Kimball said, referring to potential state legislation about intoxicating hemp products.

Maine LD 1920, an act prohibiting the sales of potentially intoxicating hemp products to persons under the age of 21, was passed by the state legislature this session.

However, there are no state regulations about the sale of the intoxicating products to those over 21. This prompted concern and discussion at League of Town meetings and some local boards throughout the summer after a presentation by Southwest Harbor Select Board member Natasha Johnson.

On Tuesday, Tremont and Lamoine both said that they have only one store that could sell the product in their town.

“Tremont just has one store in town, and the select board chair spoke to the owner about the concerns the board had, and the board is satisfied with her response to the concerns, so Tremont is not electing to do anything right now,” said League of Town Chair and Tremont Town Manager Jesse Dunbar. “We’ll just see what the state does in January when they start discussing it again.”

Lamoine had a similar situation according to its Administrative Assistant Stu Marckoon.

“Our single store in town does not sell that material anyways. And it’s prohibited. All cannabis is prohibited for sale in Lamoine,” he said.

Mount Desert and Bar Harbor Police Chief David Kerns said he’d been on the periphery of the discussion.

“I think we’re just waiting, too, to see what’s happening at the state level,” Chief Kerns said.

Though it likely won’t have a potential ordinance before its voters in November, Mount Desert has made moves toward a voluntary ban. Working with the Mount Desert Chamber of Commerce, the Mount Desert Selectboard has approved a letter to send to restaurants and retailers asking the businesses to voluntarily stop selling products containing hemp-derived THC.

“We need to really start making a stand,” Mount Desert Selectboard Chair John Macauley said during the August 18 meeting.

The Chamber distributed the letter, which asks retailers and restaurants to cooperate voluntarily about the distribution of products containing hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabionol (THC).

Former Mount Desert Town Manager Durlin Lunt had said at another meeting in early August that the state legislature can only approach regulation of the products once it reconvenes in January 2026.

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