WELLS, Maine — In a break with the town’s Planning Board, the Wells Select Board has agreed to let voters decide whether recreational cannabis can be sold in the community.
In February, the Planning Board voted unanimously to deny a request by JAR Consulting to change the town’s ordinance to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to switch to selling adult-use cannabis instead, if they want. The Planning Board recommended that the Select Board also nix the proposal and not forward the question to voters.
On March 18, however, the Select Board voted 4-1 to let the voters decide during the upcoming annual town meeting on June 10.
“Let people have a voice on it,” Select Board Chair John MacLeod III said. “Maybe people have changed their mind and want a bite of the apple. If they don’t, they’ll shoot it down. If they want it, they’ll vote for it.”
JAR Consulting makes push for recreational marijuana sales in Wells
During the town’s planning process, Joel Pepin, one of the owners of JAR Consulting, said the medical market for cannabis is shrinking, with the adult-use recreational market beginning to take a “larger share of the pie.”
“We do feel the customer pool may be larger for adult-use cannabis down here, so that’s the main reason for it all,” he said about his company’s application for the ordinance change.
JAR, which is expecting to build its shop on Post Road, is one of three medical marijuana dispensaries approved to operate in Wells. Curaleaf and Hazy Hill Farm, also located on Post Road, are the other two.
Medical and adult-use cannabis are legal in Maine. If voters in Wells do approve of JAR’s proposed change, it will be a new direction for the community. In 2017, voters approved the selling of medical cannabis in the community, but not adult-use cannabis. In 2023, voters approved capping the number of medical dispensaries at three.
The Select Board received the JAR application back in August and sent it to the Planning Board for review. The Planning Board held workshops and public hearings in the months that followed and, ultimately, felt the application did not meet some of the town’s criteria on such issues as public safety, the local comprehensive plan, and local, state, and federal regulations.
Wells residents split on sales of recreational cannabis
The Select Board cast its March 18 vote after a public hearing, during which a few residents spoke against the proposal and Adam Platz, one of the other owners of JAR, gave one last pitch in support.
One resident, Nancy Ford, said she sided with the Planning Board’s take on the proposal. Ford expressed concerns about the impacts on local young people, traffic, and public safety if the town were to allow sales of recreational cannabis.
Ford said voters made a distinction between medical and recreational use when they approved the former to be sold in the community back in 2017. She suggested that allowing adult-use cannabis stores in Wells could lead to other scenarios related to the substance being proposed.
“I don’t know what our plan is anymore,” Ford said. “We do not know what’s next. We will be coming back to this over and over again if we open this Pandora’s Box ...”
When he spoke, Platz acknowledged that the concerns expressed by residents were valid and noted the issue before the town was a “divisive one.”
Platz conceded that adult-use cannabis sales could result in some increase in traffic, but he pushed back against the argument that adult-use cannabis should not be sold locally because it is illegal at the federal level.
“You guys have already crossed that bridge,” Platz said, referring to the town’s allowance of medical cannabis, which the federal government considers as illegal as adult-use cannabis.
Platz also noted what he considered deficiencies at the state level when it comes to regulating and testing medical cannabis. He asserted that an adult-use product would be better tested and regulated.
Platz urged the Select Board to acknowledge that “the sky is not falling on other communities” that have approved the sales of adult-use cannabis within their borders.
“Other communities have dealt with this question before,” he said. “I believe there are responsible ways to control the prevalence of this industry within one’s town limits. We are asking the Select Board to put this to the people to see how they would vote.”
Wells Select Board: Voters should have final say
Vice Chair Scott DeFelice was among the Select Board members who favored letting the voters decide which direction Wells should take.
“This isn’t our government,” DeFelice said. “It’s the people’s government. I feel like they deserve the opportunity to weigh in, up or down, on how they feel about this issue.”
Select Board member Kathy Chase provided the lone dissenting voice. She argued that the town’s previous votes on matters relating to cannabis – allowing medical sales only and capping local dispensaries at three – have shown what the people want.
Chase noted that surrounding communities already have shops selling recreational cannabis.
“It’s not like there’s a driving need here for us to provide that to the town,” she said.
Chase also asserted that, if voters pass the JAR proposal, there’s a chance that all three medical dispensaries in town could switch to selling recreational cannabis instead. The result, she said, would be a “domino effect” resulting in no medical dispensaries in town at all.
“It will turn around and bite us,” she said.
