This blog post originally appeared on the Island Oasis Farm website, now decommissioned. Not sure if it translates over, but I did want to preserve some of that writing (2020-2024).
January 24, 2020
A new year and a new decade is upon us. What will the future bring? Of course, we're always hoping for great things, but there are always bumps in the road, too. 2020 was no slouch when it came to dealing everyone tough blows, and 2021 started on a few sour notes for some of us. No one among us can say that the Presidential transition was anything but usual. In the long run, most Americans want to know that we can continue pursuing our lines of work and creativity without anything more than the natural disruptions in our path. They are plenty. But, enter Maine's Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP).
Toward the end of the 2020 calendar year, OMP dropped a possible new set of regulations on the laps of Maine's marijuana caregivers. The onerous 80-some pages of legalese are no picnic to wade through, and these pages raise some concerning questions. Chief among them is this. If the US Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy reports that in 2019, 99.2% of Maine businesses are classified as small businesses, shouldn't we all be working tirelessly to maintain this diverse and vibrant economic ecosystem? Why would we want to make being a medical cannabis caregiver so onerous that the average Mom and Pop shop cannot survive?
This is at the core of farmer Derrick's ethos, too (as covered in the August posting, "Know Your Farmer"). Island Oasis Farms is a small operation providing the highest quality organic product possible to patients, and it's local. From seed to cured flower, patients can know exactly what is in their medicine, not to mention the soils it grew from and who raised it. This is a healthy, reliable, and trusted way to keep patients in touch with a small community of like-minded souls. In our far-flung rural areas, these sorts of communities are an essential part of who we are, part of our fellowship and trust.
Why, then, would we want to open our medical market to larger, out-of-state forces who can set up and operate at a scale that Maine's homegrown industries will have a difficult time competing against? This is counter intuitive. Recent news that Massachusetts-based Nova Farms is buying up a 170-acre parcel in Thorndike might be welcome news to some, particularly to landowners and farmers looking to retire through land sales. However, this is a vertically integrated farm-to-retail industry that will siphon the majority of the profits to out-of-state owners. The product might be good, but that isn't necessarily supporting an independent, Maine economy knit together with small businesses.
A large, vertically integrated out-of-state business does have it's advantages. This means that a company controls everything from the seed to the packaged product. However, a cursory glance at their product line reveals a lot of packaging: prerolls inside cartons like cigs, pre-packed, disposable pipes and vapes, and every manner of edible imaginable. Power to them (provided all this packing doesn't end up on my lawn alongside the Fireball bottles, COVID masks, and food wrappers). Still, it is difficult to ignore the return address to headquarters: Attleboro, MA. All those profits will be heading out of state. In the aggregate, what does Maine gain in this new equation with recreational sales?
Island Oasis is not here to rail against business. Rather, we aim to encourage smart growth that is sustainable for our local communities. Much the way Maine is proud of its burgeoning beer industry, we hope for something that starts and ends in Maine. The lobster industry is another parallel. Ambitious entrepreneurs can strike out on their own, here, on the coast. The money they earn stays in our communities in the form of home improvement, land stewardship, boat building and marine services, not to mention spending in our local restaurants and pubs. Businesses that begin in Maine, powered by Mainers, invest in Maine.
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