Sitting in the back row of the Caribou City Council chambers, Derrell Richardson wrung his hands.
For the past four months, the flagship location of his medical cannabis business, Richardson Remedies, in Caribou had been upended by changes to a state cannabis law.
Richardson had done all he could to fix it. Now the onus fell on the council to amend an ordinance that would allow him to continue operation.
Through more than an hour of debate, as councilors applauded the service his business offers and his commitment to the community, they weighed the necessity of the change and Caribou’s place in Maine’s cannabis landscape. To Richardson, it was “frustrating.”
“I’ve been here 10 years,” Richardson said. “I have no record of any complaints. I just felt like they were going to let me in. I was surprised when I had all that resistance.”
Adding to the tension was the fact that Caribou Planning Board members accused the council of “usurping” their authority by changing the ordinance from what the board had originally presented.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of support for what you’re doing,” Councilor Paul Watson said at one point during the debate, referring to Richardson. “What we’re fighting about here is the best way to do this.”
Eventually, a portion of the council, led by Deputy Mayor Jody Smith, resolved that the amendment needed to be put to a vote. It passed by a 5-2 majority with councilors Dan Bagley and Joan Theriault opposed.
That came as a relief to Richardson, who fist bumped customers who had come to speak in support of his business. He then left the chambers, celebrating what he said was “an overwhelming victory.”
But Richardson’s business model never changed. So why did this ordeal happen in the first place?
The answer has highlighted some of the growing pains as state and local officials have sought to manage Maine’s increasingly lucrative medical marijuana industry, which brought in more than $15 million in sales tax revenue last year, according to the state Office of Cannabis Policy. It has also exposed the challenges that longtime players in the established medical industry have faced as they try to keep up with the changing rules.
Maine recategorizes medical marijuana businesses
The issue first arose in May of 2024, when the 131st Legislature passed the mouthful “Act to Protect Liberty and Advance Justice in the Administration and Enforcement of the Cannabis Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act” — or LD 40.
When the law took effect that August, it replaced the definitions in state law that categorized cannabis businesses, their employees and their products.
Most importantly for Richardson, it expanded what it meant to be a “caregiver retail store” — his business was now considered one. But under Caribou’s Medical Cannabis Dispensary Ordinance, caregiver retail stores are not allowed.
Richardson also owns a caregiver retail location in Presque Isle that existed in that capacity prior to the law change. Under state law, an individual cannot operate more than one caregiver retail store, so his problems doubled.
Because of that, a state inspector shut the Caribou location down during a regular inspection in March. Richardson could still deliver to qualified patients, but the ability for those patients to go into the building and look at the selection of products was taken away. Transactions became “blind sales.”
“I lost a lot of business,” Richardson said. “It’s just easier when they can come in, look at the stuff and go instead of having to place an order.”
For more than a decade, Richardson Remedies had operated under a caregiver license in what was considered an “office,” similar to that of a doctor or dentist. But under the new definitions, that was no longer possible. And because the council reaffirmed its position to not opt in to allowing retail cannabis stores of any kind, Richardson applied to become what the city’s cannabis ordinance does allow: a medical dispensary.
But there were still problems. The ordinance specified that only nonprofit dispensaries could operate in Caribou. Richardson’s business is for profit. The rules also limited dispensaries to commercial and industrial zoning districts. Richardson Remedies, located at 9 Bog Road, is within an R-3 residential district, which “encompasses most of the area outside the urban center,” according to the city’s land use ordinances.
A tentative solution still faces questions
It was those issues that the amendment passed Monday attempted to solve. It repealed and replaced Section 39 of the city’s cannabis ordinance, removing the nonprofit requirement and solidifying a cap of two authorized dispensaries within city limits. It also restricted dispensaries exclusively to the R-3 Zone “at the two existing authorized locations.”
That wording raised numerous concerns from councilors, Caribou’s planning board and city attorney Rick Solman. They cited that Richardson Remedies is not yet an authorized dispensary and the city’s lone current authorized medical dispensary, Safe Alternatives, is located within an RC-2 zone, so the change to the ordinance would make it noncompliant without a provision exempting the business from the zoning rules the council has now approved.
Solman, after reviewing a previous draft of the amended ordinance section, wrote to the city on July 2 that he does “not recommend passage of the proposed ordinance in its current form.”
The city sent out a new version of the amended ordinance Monday morning which Solman had yet to review — though it’s not entirely clear what changed between versions.
“This is a really good example of why it should start with the Planning Board,” Planning Board Chair Amanda Jandreau said during the public hearing through Zoom. “Because this is what we do, day in and day out, the zoning and businesses and land use throughout the city.”
But for Richardson and his business, it’s a major step toward resuming normal operation in Caribou. He said he’s in process of continuing his application for a dispensary license, which will need both state and municipal approval.
“I want to give a big shout out to the [council] members that approved me,” Richardson said. “It makes me feel really good that [Richardson Remedies is] being recognized by the higher ups in the city.”
