Since recreational marijuana became available for purchase in Maine, the state has been legally required to develop campaigns focusing on cannabis awareness, education, health, and safety. Now, Maine is launching a cannabis safety campaign, and applications for its leader just opened.
Erik Gundersen, director of the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy, announced that the state started to solicit bids for the project on Wednesday. The marijuana policy office said the applicant will work with the state on issues such as “preventing and deterring the use of marijuana and marijuana products by persons under 21 years of age.”
The state will fund the campaign via its Adult Use Marijuana Public Health and Safety Fund, which the Maine Legislature established in 2018. The fund gets some of the tax revenues generated by adult use marijuana sales.
Regulated, adult-use cannabis sales have only been available in Maine since October of last year, four years since it was legalized in 2016. Maine legalized medical cannabis in 1999, and decriminalized it way back in 1976.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.