We are in the midst of harvest season on this National Farmer’s Day.
We’d like to acknowledge all the hard-working farmers (cannabis & beyond) on this day.
Paul has been named to the Maine Medical Cannabis Workgroup and one of his main focuses is preserving the program for Maine small-scale cannabis farmers and businesses. You can use the link above to check on the workgroup’s progress, as well as, see what proposals the department will have in the future.
Also, there is a very important statewide ballot initiative this November that seeks to preserve for the people of Maine the right to “grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the foods that they choose.” Voting Yes on Question 3 amends the Maine Constitution to make sure those rights are not in jeopardy.
We as cannabis patients, caregivers, growers, and advocates should realize that the government isn’t always right with the choices we should have to our health and bodies. The FDA has said, “[The] assertion of a fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health…is unavailing because [consumers] do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.” Source
Every person in Maine should have the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the foods that they choose. Without passage of Question 3 amending the Maine Constitution, those rights are in jeopardy – especially for Maine’s smaller family farms and hobby growers.
What does the ballot measure add to the Maine Constitution:
Question 3 would declare that individuals have a “natural, inherent and unalienable right to food,” including:
* “the right to save and exchange seeds” and
* “the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being[.]”
Question 3 would not provide a right to harvest, produce, or acquire food in cases in which an individual commits trespassing, theft, poaching, or “other abuses of private property rights, public lands or natural resources.”
Additional Resources:
Voting yes on Question 3 will enshrine a right to food in the Maine Constitution
