Four years ago Dalton Dalrymple began selling medical marijuana out of his home in South Berwick.
Dalrymple’s company, Grove Cannabis Co., took orders through an app called Weedmaps, as well as over the phone. Customers could have the marijuana delivered, or they could stop by Dalrymple’s house and he would bring it out to their car.
In 2024 Dalrymple, 30, saw an opportunity to expand the business. A medical marijuana shop on Main Street in South Berwick had recently closed. Dalrymple and his partner, James Potter, 29, jumped at the opportunity to open their own shop at that location.
Their store, located across the street from the South Berwick Post Office, is one of nine licensed cannabis businesses in town.
South Berwick’s medical cannabis businesses offer a sharp contrast to the sleek, modern recreational, or “adult-use,” stores and grow facilities that have sprung up along Route 236 in Eliot, Route 4 in Berwick and other towns in southern York County.
“We’re not a destination town for cannabis,” said DeCarlo Brown, South Berwick’s director of planning and economic development. Marijuana businesses, according to Brown, have had very little impact on the town’s economy.
“It’s been one tiny, tiny piece of the pie, and not a huge driver of businesses or industry within this town,” he said.
South Berwick does not permit selling or growing recreational cannabis; only medical cannabis businesses are allowed. Under Maine law, towns are given the discretion to opt out of recreational cannabis, but they cannot opt out of medical cannabis.
Medical cannabis customers, referred to as “patients,” must show a special card issued by a physician to buy from medical cannabis providers, known as “caregivers.”
By contrast, the neighboring town of Eliot permits both recreational and medical cannabis facilities. While marijuana commerce has a far larger footprint in Eliot – 31 licensed businesses – the economic benefit for the town has been less than some anticipated.
When Eliot first opened its doors to legal cannabis in 2019, “people expected a gold rush of sorts,” said Town Manager Michael Sullivan. “It has not been such,” he noted.
Describing the economic impact as “moderate,” Sullivan estimates there initially were 250 cannabis-related jobs in Eliot. Today, he said, that number has dropped to about 40 jobs.
Three medical marijuana stores downtown
There is a faint smell of marijuana in the air in Dalrymple and Potter’s small, tidy shop on Main Street. Glass display cases and jars are filled with cannabis in various forms including drinks, edibles, pre-rolls and buds of different cannabis strains with names like Z. Killer, Gary Poppins and Watermelon Rush.
“We’ve had a lot of people that were loyal to this location,” Potter said. “(They) come in and say, ‘Oh, you know, we were waiting for a store to move into this shop so we could shop local and pick up our cannabis,’ and they’re all new customers.”
The shop is one of three town-licensed medical marijuana stores in downtown South Berwick. The owner of Hidden Greens on Lower Main Street declined to be interviewed, and the owner of Auraz, also on Lower Main Street, did not respond to repeated inquiries.
In addition, there are six licensed home medical marijuana caregiver facilities. Their locations are not publicly disclosed, in accordance with regulations from Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy.
Lower Main Street is the only place where cannabis stores are permitted in South Berwick, with Grove Cannabis’s location an exception because a cannabis store was approved for that spot before the current town zoning regulations went into effect in 2022.
Medical marijuana cultivation and growing facilities are permitted only in the industrial zone off Punkintown Road and Route 236. However, no facilities of this type have been established in town.
Registered caregiver facilities for medical cannabis, typically located in private homes, are permitted throughout the town.
But like all types of cannabis businesses, they are subject to strict regulations and an exhaustive review process by multiple town departments, as well as state licensing requirements. Town licensing fees for these businesses range from $750 to $3,000.
Dalrymple and Potter said it took seven months to get state and town approval for their shop. “It was definitely difficult. It was definitely costly,” Dalrymple said, adding, “But I would say it’s very worth the location.”
Cannabis licenses are granted by the Town Council, but before approving a license the council requires that almost every town department sign off on the application, including Police, Public Works and Fire departments and the code enforcement officer.
Planning Board approval is also required for all cannabis businesses except caregivers who grow marijuana on their own property, according to town Code Enforcement Officer Jenifer McCabe.
Anyone who wants to open a cannabis business in town must submit plans that show how they will keep their building secure, prevent odors from drifting beyond their property line, deal with waste disposal, and several other requirements. So far the town has rejected only one application for a cannabis business.
Once approved, McCabe said, cannabis businesses are subject to an annual unannounced inspection to ensure they are complying with the conditions of their license.
However, medical marijuana is much more lightly regulated by the state than recreational marijuana. State law requires quality control monitoring for recreational cannabis, including testing for contaminants, along with tracking and tracing of recreational cannabis products. Those regulations do not apply to medical marijuana.
More natural in a ‘family-friendly town’
Despite strict town oversight, Brown contends that South Berwick has taken a balanced approach to legal cannabis.
“What it means to be a family-friendly town has changed over time,” he said. “Before, you may not have been able to purchase these types of goods and services. But as they become just another facet of being a town within Maine, it then becomes more natural to have those services provided here.”
Brown pointed out that the town recently made a grant to Hidden Greens to help the business upgrade its storefront. The grant totaled $1,915.50.
Brown sees medical cannabis retail stores as an important step in revitalizing Lower Main Street.
“They are newer businesses that are coming up, and we want to encourage them to thrive,” he said. “As they start to thrive, maybe we can get more people on this street and more different types of retail businesses.”
While the town has not done a formal study of cannabis businesses, Brown said he believes marijuana sellers and growers in South Berwick mainly serve local customers.
The owners of Grove Cannabis Co. say local customers are an important part of their business, especially people who live downtown and can walk to their shop. But they estimate that half their customers come from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where marijuana laws are more restrictive than in Maine.
The company has 10 employees. Four of them work in South Berwick; the others are employed at a packing facility in Sanford and a Berwick location where they grow cannabis.
Dalrymple and Potter are not convinced cannabis businesses will lead to an economic revival in downtown South Berwick. They point to high licensing fees as a major impediment for new marijuana retail outlets.
But they say they feel welcomed by the downtown business community even though their shop has been open only since April.
“Our employees go to Nature’s Way Market, they appreciate us,” Potter said. “South Berwick House of Pizza, they benefit greatly – our employees probably eat a pizza a day. I think everybody helps one another. I think there’s a good sense of community there.”
Editor’s note: “Cannabis,” which refers to all products derived from the plant Cannabis sativa, is used in legal contexts such as licensing. “Marijuana” refers to products from cannabis plants that contain substantial amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the substance primarily responsible for its effects on a person’s mental state.
You must be logged in to post a comment.