HANCOCK — The Hancock Planning Board on Aug. 10 rejected an application for a medical marijuana dispensary.
Allison Jordan came before the board with an application for a medical-only marijuana dispensary called The Healing Center. This facility would not be for recreational sales, and a referral from a medical professional would be required to purchase any cannabis products.
While marijuana is legal for adult medical and recreational use in the state of Maine, the town of Hancock has opted to prohibit the production, cultivation, testing and sale of marijuana and other cannabis products within the town.
This policy was decided by a vote at Town Meeting in 2018 and prohibits the operation of any facility that conducts the cultivation, testing, manufacturing, and sale of cannabis products after Dec. 13, 2018. This meant that the application for a medical dispensary had to be rejected, officials said.
This rejection, and the wording of the original vote to prohibit cannabis sales in the town prompted a lot of discussion among Planning Board members, who despite rejecting the application offered to help the applicant in the only way they are currently permitted to do so.
“As this stands right now, your dispensary is not a permitted use in the town,” said Planning Board Chairman Nick Branca. “However, we have the ability to write a letter of recommendation as a board to the Select Board to see if they would be willing to ……
