CAMDEN, Maine — Deciding how to vote on allowing recreational marijuana retailers in downtown Camden was a struggle from the start, Meg Quijano said.
Quijano owns The Smiling Cow, a gift shop on Main Street. She’s tapped into the business community here, and most of the people she spoke to planned to vote no. While she did not want a marijuana store opening up right next door, she also didn’t think they needed to be blocked altogether.
“I don’t think the town has a right to deny a particular business because they don’t happen to like the product that they’re selling,” Quijano said.
She was a reluctant yes on one question, but she was in the minority. Approximately two-thirds of Camden voters rejected two questions on the local ballot June 13 that would have allowed up to two recreational or medical marijuana retailers downtown, showing how even culturally liberal towns are struggling with legalization after Maine voters narrowly passed it in 2016.
Camden voted in favor of it then. But it is among the roughly 90 percent of cities and towns in Maine that still don’t allow marijuana retailers after a divisive campaign that was notable for heavy-handed rhetoric from opponents and left proponents wondering about the wealthy tourism town’s reputation for elitism. Some sat out the vote entirely.
An ad taken out by Camden Cares, a group that organized against questions pushed by marijuana businesses, in the Camden Herald’s…
