NEWFIELD — Rep. Jim Campbell, I-Newfield, isn’t happy about the message he says is being conveyed about recreational marijuana laws being decided by municipal referendum.

So he’s submitted a bill that would ban them because, he said Monday, marijuana use and cultivation remains a federal offense.

Efforts to legalize the use of marijuana, said Campbell, is “something that irritates me very much.”

“You don’t legalize something that the federal government says is illegal,” he said. By passing legislation that would allow the use of recreational marijuana, Campbell said, “We’re telling youth we’ll violate the (federal) law and make our own laws.”

Campbell said passage of laws approving marijuana use in Maine is “telling a 21 year-old it’s OK to sit in a hammock, drink cheap booze and smoke dope.”

Portland became the first Maine city to legalize, through referendum, recreational marijuana use; South Portland became the second in a referendum Nov. 4. Lewiston residents rejected the proposal.

David Boyer, spokesman for the Maine chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, said the agency is no longer looking to change municipal marijuana laws through referendums. Instead, the Marijuana Policy Project will make the pitch for a statewide referendum in 2016. He said if the 2016 referendum happens and is approved, then municipalities might be able to opt out, just as they do for alcohol sales.

Still, Boyer said he thinks Campbell’s bill is a mistake. And he said if marijuana were legal statewide, its use and sale would be regulated ”“ and taxed.

Boyer and the Marijuana Policy Project aren’t the only ones looking for statewide marijuana legalization and regulation. Rep. Diane Russell, a Portland Democrat, has submitted upward of eight bills regarding medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. One of Russell’s bills would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. The content of that bill wasn’t available ”“ many bills exist in title only at the moment and are in the process of being written. Russell didn’t return a Monday telephone call seeking comment on her bills.

Campbell said passing such bills are telling lies to the people of Maine, because marijuana isn’t legal in the eyes of the federal government. He said he expected such bills to materialize after Mainers approved the use of medical marijuana.

“We’d be waiting a really long time” if the country waited for Congress to act, Boyer said. And while the Marijuana Policy Project doesn’t plan any municipal referendums, preferring to go the state route instead, he thinks Campbell’s bill is a mistake and pointed out that Maine has a long tradition of local control.

“Prohibition is not a good law, it has done nothing to stop the flow of marijuana,” said Boyer. He points out that MPP doesn’t believe marijuana should be used by people under 21 years -old.

“Marijuana is not for the developing brain,” he said. Boyer pointed out that in MPP’s view, regulating and taxing marijuana would be good for the state. Currently, he pointed out, revenue from marijuana goes to the underground market.

“Law enforcement has bigger fish to fry than adults using marijuana and it’s time that our laws reflected that,” Boyer said. 

Boyer said marijuana is a step down from harder drugs, not a gateway up, as some allege.

Campbell said he’ll seek co-sponsors for his bill. He said his research shows that states neighboring those that have legalized recreational marijuana are having issues.

Campbell said he plans to talk to both Democrats and Republicans about it, and hopes to speak with the governor as well. 

“To tell people they have the power to change the law is a lie. It’s illegal,” Campbell said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.