Did you know that Maine was one of the first states to legalize hemp in the US? It’s true. More than 20 years ago, in 1999, Maine lawmakers gave medical patients the legal right to grow cannabis plants. 

Then, ten years later, the state legalized the commercial farming of hemp. You don’t hear much about it because practically no one was interested in growing it. And that’s because it was technically illegal on the federal level. Adding hemp to your list of crops put farmers at risk of having their bank accounts revoked, not being to get crop insurance, and potentially having the DEA and DOJ breathing down their necks and confiscating their property. 

That all changed in 2014 — somewhat — when the federal government implemented a hemp pilot program. Although it was a step in the right direction, the law only permitted the cultivation of hemp for research purposes and under constrained conditions.

It was about this time that CBD, aka cannabidiol, was starting to become a thing with the general public. At the time, however, it was mainly available at medical marijuana dispensaries. 

In 2015, following the launch of federal hemp pilot program rules, Maine legalized the commercial sale of industrial hemp and Hemp-CBD products in the state. 

Then in 2018, the federal government went a step further and fully legalized the production of hemp and the distribution of hemp products across state lines. 

Maine legislature followed suit by expanding the state’s hemp cultivation program in March of 2019. However, shortly thereafter, lawmakers decided to ban the sale of CBD-infused foods and beverages citing the fact that CBD had not yet been approved by the FDA for use as a food additive. 

In late January of 2019, the state began demanding that businesses remove edibles from their shelves and menus. It wasn’t long before the rule was reversed. 

Nonetheless, many of Maine’s hemp farmers feel that the state’s rules are still too strict and the licensing fees too high. In fact, hemp license fees were raised for the 2020 growing season to $100 application fee, plus $500 permit fee, plus $100 per acre. 

Another sticking point in Maine was the fact that the new hemp laws required all CBD products sold in Maine to be produced only with CBD that has been produced in-state. The reason for the rule, said lawmakers, was to protect Maine’s CBD market and hemp farmers from the threat of federal intervention. 

This was a problem, however, because the demand for CBD in Maine was far higher than the state’s farmers could hope to produce. As a result of the industry uproar, state lawmakers rewrote the rules to allow the import of CBD from licensed producers in other states. 

However, all edibles were still required to be manufactured in-state. Most experts believe that there’s no way the state will be able to enforce that rule, and sales of imported edibles continue in 2021. 

In 2019 Maine licensed more than 170 hemp farmers who grew over 2,000 acres of hemp. 

The state began accepting hemp license applications for the 2020 growing season in early February. 

Now that the history lesson is out of the way, let’s get more specific and answer some of the more frequently asked questions regarding Maine hemp and CBD laws.