On Wednesday, April 26, the public is invited to the Boothbay Region YMCA to listen to Edward Kelleher provide updates and information on the recreational Marijuana Legislation Act and what it could mean to the area.

Kelleher, an attorney with the Drummond Woodsum law firm in Portland, appeared at a January workshop hosted by Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission, where he and colleague Amy Tchao presented a program called, “Weeding Through Marijuana Legislation: What It Means for Our Towns.”

Besides providing updates on the law, Kelleher will address the differences between medical and retail marijuana, and will detail five different scenarios in which marijuana could be produced and sold, including cultivation, manufacturing, testing, retails stores, and social clubs.

Boothbay Harbor Board of Selectmen Chair Denise Griffin said every town needs to decide what facets of the law it wants to adopt. “For instance, do we want to allow all five of them? One of them? Two? That's what we're trying to do, to educate people and to get taxpayer opinions.”

The 6 p.m. meeting is free. Boothbay Harbor officials hope it will be well-attended because the public's presence and its questions and concerns surrounding the new law are critical in determining what town zoning and ordinances, if any, will need to be written and implemented.

Boothbay Harbor Code Enforcement Officer Geoff Smith organized the meeting. He said brief questionnaires will be passed around during it. The answers will help develop options to be discussed at public forums with the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board. “I hope we can get a good feel for the public's interests and concerns,” Smith said.

Despite the simple wording of the referendum, implementing the new recreational law is complicated, Selectman Wendy Wolf said. She believes residents attending the meeting will gain a better understanding of the law. “Their voices will guide the decisions of their elected officials. Attending may also help families answer questions or clear up misinformation for peers, and particularly, children.”

A statewide moratorium is in effect until Feb. 1, 2018. The moratorium extends the period allowed to establish rules for sales, retail establishments and commercial growing. The delay does not apply to medical marijuana or edibles. It is legal now for Mainers over 21 to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana, grow up to six mature plants and cultivate seedlings.