Eric Russell

3 days ago | pressherald.com | Eric Russell

Eddie DuGay appeared before the Turner Board of Selectmen in October 2020 with a simple request: He wanted permits for himself and several others, including two Chinese immigrants, to grow medical marijuana inside a large warehouse on Conant Road. All they needed to get started was a majority vote from the five-member board, pass a brief inspection and answer a few questions at a meeting the following month. And they got it.

3 days ago | pressherald.com | Eric Russell

Marsya Ancker-Robert and her husband, Paul, stand over the grave of her father, Mark Ancker. The 55-pound casket, made entirely of mushroom roots, was the first of its kind ever buried in North America. Photo courtesy of Loop Biotech INDUSTRY – The loved ones who gathered in a muddy clearing to say goodbye to their friend and father gazed down at the glowing white cocoon that lay at the bottom of a freshly dug grave.

3 weeks ago | pressherald.com | Eric Russell

Maine immigration officials joined a chorus of advocates across the country in expressing confusion and frustration over this week’s arrival of dozens of white South African refugees. The Trump administration – which instituted a broad freeze on refugee resettlement and foreign aid in January – has argued that Afrikaners, South Africa’s white ethnic minority that established and enforced apartheid, are now facing discrimination in the post-apartheid era.

4 weeks ago | pressherald.com | Eric Russell

AUGUSTA — Maine lawmakers are looking to give authorities more tools to make it harder for hundreds of black market cannabis farmers allegedly associated with Chinese organized crime to receive licenses to grow and sell in Maine’s medical market. But leaders of the state’s largest cannabis trade and advocacy groups are pushing back against several bills, saying they don’t trust the state to enforce the rules fairly.

1 month ago | pressherald.com | Eric Russell

AUGUSTA — Maine’s recreational cannabis market requires products and plants be tested for mold, yeast, pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals and more. The medical marijuana industry does not. Lawmakers heard testimony Monday on two bills that seek to change that, but both face an uphill battle against the industry. LD 104, proposed by the state’s Office of Cannabis Policy, or OCP, and sponsored by Rep.