GOP Lawmaker Behind Maine's Marijuana Legalization Calls On Cannabis Czar To Step Down

Maine’s cannabis czar John Hudak is under attack from a member of the House of Representatives who claims the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) director is "unfairly and unjustly executing state law."

Republican Rep. David Boyer is behind an online petition calling on Gov. Janet Mills (D) to fire Hudak. The petition had garnered over 600 signatures as of Monday afternoon, writes Marijuana Moment's Ben Adlin.

Why?

To make his point, Boyer listed several instances in which he says Hudak improperly enforced state legislation by allegedly targeting and retaliating against cannabis operators who raised concerns about regulations he imposed, such as a $50,000 burden on small businesses.

Boyer, who spearheaded the movement to legalize marijuana in Maine as a member of a national cannabis reform organization, says Hudak has conflicts of interest, which should bar him from certain matters.

He claimed Hudak is a self-proclaimed co-founder of Freedman and Koski, a consulting firm that assisted the state in formulating regulations for the marijuana industry. Lewis Koski is the chief strategy officer at Metrc, a cannabis seed-to-sale software firm that initially lost the bid for Maine’s track-and-trace system to BioTrack, but after a re-scoring of applications, was awarded the contract.

Boyer said in a Facebook post he’s "causing some ‘good trouble'” and that the OCP has gone completely rogue.

"Making up the law as they go, preying on caregivers and businesses that don’t know the law and/or are too intimated to push back,” Boyer said. “Imagine saying Maine is going to be an important state when it comes to cannabis. He is not for Maine! Enough is enough."

In the petition, Boyer, who was behind the measure that sought to allow marijuana advertising and deliveries at commercial locations throughout the state, urged Gov. Mills to "appoint someone who will advocate for Maine’s small businesses instead of working against them."

Hudak And Recent Cannabis Efforts In Maine

Late last year, a report from OCP showed that roughly half of the state's medical marijuana was tainted with contaminants such as yeast, mold, pesticides and other harmful substances after gathering 127 samples during routine inspections.

Hudak said he expected the report's details would push the state to create a medical cannabis testing mandate similar to the recreational market. However, cultivators and caregivers have their doubts.

Some industry stakeholders called the report into question due to its small sample size, questionable conclusions and methods. Others went so far as to call it “intellectually dishonest.”

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