Since recreational cannabis sales became legal in Maine five years ago, marijuana has boomed into a nearly half-billion-dollar industry.
But recently, as more storefronts occupy downtowns and rural byways, some municipalities have considered taking steps to rein in the ballooning marketplace.
Presque Isle, which boasts the most visible cannabis presence in northern Maine, adopted a moratorium Wednesday to halt new licenses for marijuana businesses for up to 12 months to explore changes to its ordinance.
The Androscoggin County town of Turner did the same in November, citing a cultivation facility where police had responded to 25 separate incidents, including a homicide, over three years.
And just north in Livermore Falls, the Select Board is weighing a moratorium while it considers imposing restrictions.
All three are among the communities with the highest number of cannabis businesses per capita in the state. But which town tops that list? And which has the highest total number of businesses?
We analyzed current licensing data compiled by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy to answer those questions.
Our analysis categorized cannabis businesses as those licensed to cultivate, manufacture or sell marijuana and cannabis products under either the state’s medical use or adult use programs. That includes most licensed caregivers, which are regulated under the medical use program to cultivate and/or sell the substance to qualified patients at a smaller volume.
Of the nearly 1,800 licensees that meet that criteria, caregivers account for about three-quarters of those, or 1,344.
Some caregivers list a cultivation facility and a caregiver retail store under the same license but in different towns. In those cases, this analysis uses the retail store address as the location of the business.
Portland, Maine’s largest city, leads the list with 71 businesses. Behind it are some of the state’s other substantial population centers, among them Auburn, Bangor and Sanford.
The main outlier is Berwick, a town of fewer than 8,000 people with 32 cannabis businesses within its limits. There are six retail locations in the town, between adult use and caregiver retail stores and one medical dispensary. The remaining 26 licenses are for cultivation or manufacturing facilities.
Berwick sits on the border of New Hampshire, where recreational marijuana is not legal.
Overall, Moro Plantation, a southern Aroostook community of 44 people, boasts the most businesses per capita. Three caregiver cultivation facilities are licensed there. To eliminate outliers like that, the charts above are filtered to include towns with a minimum of 1,500 and 5,000 residents, respectively.
Among smaller towns, Parsonsfield, another York County town on the New Hampshire border, sits on top, boasting one cannabis business for every 89 residents. It has 20 total, with 19 caregiver cultivation licenses and one adult use store.
Livermore Falls, which has 12 businesses in a town of 3,000, also makes that list.
In communities with more than 5,000 residents, Berwick and Turner have the most licensees, with Lebanon and New Gloucester not far behind.
Presque Isle comes in 30th on this list, just below Portland and above Bangor, Westbrook and Brunswick.
Use the search bar below to see how many cannabis businesses are in your town.
