Marijuana

An ugly breakup shines light on marijuana business in Maine

FILE - In this April 12, 2018, file photo, a marijuana plant awaits transplanting at the Hollingsworth Cannabis Company near Shelton, Wash. Five years after Washington launched its pioneering legal marijuana market, officials are proposing their most ambitious overhaul yet of the way the industry is regulated, with plans for boosting minority ownership of pot businesses, spreading out oversight among a range of state agencies, and letting the smallest cannabis producers increase the size of the operations in an effort to help them become more competitive. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press/File

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s biggest medical marijuana dispensary is trying to end its relationship with a company behind its fast-growing edibles operation.

Wellness Connection of Maine contends CanWell LLC of Rhode Island is to blame for $14 million in losses caused by low yields from its extraction equipment and processes.

The Portland Press Herald reports that CanWell says the charges were trumped up so Wellness Connection and its corporate parent can claim the lucrative New England cannabis extraction market for themselves. It also says Wellness has stopped making its 20 percent sales royalties, and owes it at least $650,000.

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Wellness tried to fire CanWell last month. But a Rhode Island court late last week put the divorce on hold until both parties can make their case at an arbitration hearing.