LEWISTON — The Lewiston City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to turn the matter of legalizing recreational marijuana use over to local voters.

David Boyer, political director for the Maine Marijuana Policy Project, seemed pleased with the ease with which the motion passed through the council without discussion.

“I thought there would be some opposition,” Boyer said, “but the council wanted to send it right to the will of the voters this November and let the voters decide if adults should be punished for using a substance that’s objectively safer than alcohol in the privacy of their home. I guess it’s kind of a testament as to where we’re at politically, as a movement.”

No one spoke against the measure, but no one spoke in favor of it, either.

Boyer said his group collected 1,250 signatures — far above the 859 needed to get the question on the ballot. Boyer said the most difficult part of gathering signatures was making sure they were from valid Lewiston voters.

Boyer, who lives in Falmouth, said he has been working with the Marijuana Policy Project for about two years. He said that many people he encounters feel law enforcement has “bigger fish to fry” than petty possession charges.

The end game, he said, is a federal repeal of prohibition of marijuana. While he recognizes the hierarchy of state and federal laws, Boyer said local legalization would give police discretion on whether to issue summons. “It’s not worth their time or their energy,” he said.

Scott Gagnon, state director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, issued a statement after the council meeting.

The group looks forward to meeting Lewiston residents, Gagnon wrote, “to talk about what this would mean for Lewiston, its public safety, its public health and its youth.”

Legalizing marijuana would take the city in the wrong direction, he said. “It would put up barriers to learning and thus barriers to opportunity.”

dmcintire@sunjournal.com

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