Maine Patients Now Choose From a Variety of Medical Marijuana

Nice options

BIDDEFORD, Maine — A type of store Massachusetts has never seen before could soon be opening in a neighborhood near you: a medical marijuana dispensary. The new state law that went into effect last month allows up to 35 of them. And some communities, worried they'll be a negative influence, are trying to ban these businesses.

In the state of Maine, eight dispensaries have opened over the last couple of years. So we visited one in the city of Biddeford to see how it works.

We found that although the names of the two dozen strains of marijuana sold there — names like Plushberry, Qrazy Train, Querkle, Space Bomb and Sweet Island Skunk, which are standard names nationwide — are pretty irreverent, the dispensary is otherwise quite low-key. In fact, the Biddeford police chief didn't even realize it was there until we called him to ask if it has attracted any law enforcement attention. For the record, it hasn't. It's in a nondescript commercial condominium building along with several doctors' offices. The only indication of a dispensary is a plain little sign that reads Canuvo. It's a made-up name that combines the words "cannabis" and "new."