Now it's legal, how do you get it? They gotta give it away

Today it becomes legal to use recreational marijuana in Maine, but how do you go about acquiring it, since the legalization of retail stores is still about a year out.

The answer, according to David Boyer, the former campaign manager of Yes on 1, is all in the giving.

It's legal to be given plants, or up to 2½ ounces of marijuana, for that matter, but you have to receive it as a gift.

"Just like if you wanted to, you can give your buddy a six-pack a beer; he just can't pay for it," Boyer said.

So it's illegal to purchase, but not to receive, he notes.

Boyer added even if the marijuana was not legally grown, it's not necessarily illegal to accept it as a gift.

The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, which was named as the lead agency in the referendum, said today that they are waiting to see what a legislative committee will decide in the next few months. A department spokesman said today they could not offer any opinion or comment on Boyer's assertion.

Meanwhile, the joint legislative committee, in the process of being formed in Augusta, will have their hands full the next few months deciding everything from retail regulations to social club rules and monitoring.

There is also a move afoot to move the regulatory oversight agency from Forestry to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, Forestry spokesman John Bott said.