Landlord ban authority, possession and home-grow limits, medical patient housing rules, and federal Section 8 restrictions in Maine.
Recreational cannabis has been legal in Maine since the 2016 ballot measure, with retail sales starting in October 2020, and medical use has been legal since 1999. Adults 21 and older may possess up to 2.5 ounces and grow up to 3 mature and 12 immature plants at home. None of that strips a landlord's authority over the rental unit. Maine gives you two distinct written tools to control cannabis on your property, and both hinge on disclosing your policy up front and getting a signed acknowledgment before the tenant commits.
The catch that trips up most owners is the medical-cannabis smoke rule and the collision with federally-assisted housing. This page lays out what you can prohibit, how to paper it, and where federal law overrides Maine's permissive stance.
Maine is classified as Adult-Use Recreational Legal (effective 2016). The governing statute is 28-B M.R.S. § 1501 et seq. (Question 1, 2016).
28-B M.R.S. § 1501(2)(B): landlord may prohibit smoking and cultivation on rental property. Medical patients protected from housing discrimination under 22 M.R.S. § 2423-E.
Maine legalized adult-use cannabis under the Marijuana Legalization Act (28-B M.R.S. ch. 1); personal adult use is governed by 28-B M.R.S. 1501. Medical use runs under the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act (22 M.R.S. ch. 558-C). Legalization means the state won't prosecute a compliant adult, it does not mean a tenant has a right to smoke or grow inside your rental.
A landlord's authority over cannabis comes from two separate Maine statutes working together: the smoking policy law at 14 M.R.S. 6030-E, and the marijuana policy provision enacted by LD 799 in 2017. You can use both. Neither requires you to allow cannabis; they require you to disclose your rule and get a signature. Get the paperwork right and enforcement is straightforward; skip it and you lose leverage even though you keep the underlying right to set the rule.
Under 14 M.R.S. 6030-E, before a tenant signs a lease or tenancy-at-will agreement or pays a deposit, you must provide a written smoking-policy disclosure stating whether smoking is prohibited on the premises, allowed on the entire premises, or allowed only in limited areas (which you must identify). You then have to obtain the tenant's written acknowledgment that they received the policy.
One wrinkle matters for cannabis: 6030-E defines "smoking" as a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or other object giving off tobacco smoke. That statutory definition does not, by its terms, reach cannabis. So a tobacco smoking ban does not automatically cover marijuana smoke. To ban cannabis smoke specifically, spell out "tobacco, cannabis, vaping, and all combustible smoking" in the lease and in your policy disclosure rather than relying on the word "smoking" alone. Note that a tenant cannot sue you solely because you failed to deliver the 6030-E disclosure, and cannot use another tenant's smoking-policy violation as the basis for a private claim against you, but non-disclosure still weakens your enforcement position.
Maine's 2017 marijuana-policy law (LD 799, "An Act To Protect Landlords and Tenants from the Deleterious Effects of Marijuana Use," codified in Title 14) lets you develop and enforce a policy that restricts or prohibits the cultivation, possession, or use of marijuana on residential premises. This is the tool for stopping home grows, which are the real risk for landlords: excess humidity, mold, electrical loads, and odor complaints from a legal 3-mature-plant grow.
The mechanics mirror the smoking law. Your policy must state whether cultivation, possession, or use is prohibited, allowed on the entire premises, or allowed in limited areas. You must give written notice and obtain a written acknowledgment from the tenant or prospective tenant before they enter a contract or pay a deposit. As with 6030-E, a tenant may not maintain a private cause of action against you solely because you failed to provide the required disclosure. Practically: put a clear "no cultivation, no possession, no consumption" clause in the lease, deliver the standalone policy, and collect the signed acknowledgment at application or signing.
Medical cannabis is where Maine narrows your discretion. Under 22 M.R.S. 2430-C, a landlord may prohibit the smoking of cannabis for medical purposes only if the landlord prohibits all smoking on the premises and posts notice to that effect. You cannot single out a medical patient's cannabis smoke while letting other tenants smoke tobacco. It is a smoke-free-building rule or nothing.
Two things this rule does not do. First, it does not require you to permit medical cannabis at all, you can prohibit possession and cultivation under the LD 799 policy, and you can go fully smoke-free for everyone. Second, the statute's anti-discrimination protections expressly fall away where honoring them would put you in violation of federal law or cost you a federal contract or funding, which is the on-ramp to the Section 8 problem below. A reasonable-accommodation request from a medical patient does not force you to allow smoking; a uniform, posted no-smoking policy is the compliant path.
Cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812), so Maine's legalization does not reach federally-assisted housing. HUD guidance (2011 and 2014 memos) requires public housing agencies to deny admission to any household with a member who currently uses marijuana, medical or recreational, and bars current users from admission to federally-assisted housing. For existing residents, ongoing use is handled at the PHA or owner's discretion rather than mandatory eviction, but the admission bar is firm.
This means an owner participating in the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program, project-based Section 8, or public housing cannot lean on Maine's permissive cannabis stance. The federal Fair Housing Act's duty to accommodate a disability also does not require accommodating marijuana use, because the use is federally illegal, so a medical-cannabis accommodation request in assisted housing can be denied. If you take federal housing dollars, apply the federal rule, keep a written no-cannabis policy, and document that your acknowledgment forms were delivered.
Under 28-B M.R.S. § 1501 et seq. (Question 1, 2016), a landlord may not refuse to rent to or evict a registered medical patient solely because of their medical-use status. However, three significant carve-outs apply:
The practical impact: a tenant holding a Housing Choice Voucher who tests positive for cannabis or self-discloses use during recertification can lose their voucher in Maine, regardless of any state cannabis legalization or medical card status. This is the single most common point of confusion for tenants in adult-use states.
City-level landlord risk profiles often track cannabis-related lease enforcement. View the eviction-risk and tenant-law profile for the largest Maine rental markets:
This overview reflects Maine's Marijuana Legalization Act (28-B M.R.S. ch. 1), the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act (22 M.R.S. ch. 558-C, including the medical-smoking rule at 22 M.R.S. 2430-C), the rental smoking-policy statute (14 M.R.S. 6030-E), and the 2017 landlord marijuana-policy law enacted by LD 799 in the 128th Legislature, read against the federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and HUD guidance on marijuana in federally-assisted housing. Statutes and HUD policy change; confirm current section text on the Maine Legislature site and consult a Maine landlord-tenant attorney before drafting or enforcing a cannabis policy, particularly in assisted housing.
Yes. Legalization stops state prosecution of a compliant adult; it does not give tenants a right to use or grow cannabis in a rental. Maine's 2017 marijuana-policy law (LD 799, Title 14) lets you restrict or prohibit cultivation, possession, and use on residential premises, and 14 M.R.S. 6030-E lets you ban smoking. You must disclose the policy in writing and get the tenant's signed acknowledgment before they sign or pay a deposit.
Not necessarily. The smoking definition in 14 M.R.S. 6030-E refers to objects giving off tobacco smoke, so a bare 'no smoking' clause may not clearly reach cannabis. Spell out 'tobacco, cannabis, and all combustible smoking and vaping' in both the lease and your policy disclosure to close the gap.
Yes. Maine adults 21+ may legally grow up to 3 mature and 12 immature plants, but a landlord may prohibit cultivation on residential premises under the Title 14 marijuana policy enacted by LD 799. Home grows drive mold, humidity, electrical, and odor risk, so most landlords prohibit cultivation outright with a signed acknowledgment.
Only if you go smoke-free for everyone. Under 22 M.R.S. 2430-C you may prohibit medical-cannabis smoking only if you prohibit all smoking on the premises and post notice to that effect. You cannot ban a patient's cannabis smoke while allowing tobacco. You are never required to permit medical cannabis, and you may still prohibit possession and cultivation.
Federal law controls. Cannabis is Schedule I under 21 U.S.C. 812, and HUD guidance requires public housing agencies to deny admission to households with a current marijuana user, medical or recreational. The Fair Housing Act does not require accommodating marijuana use. If you accept federal housing funds, apply the federal no-cannabis rule regardless of Maine law.
You keep the underlying right to set the rule, but you lose leverage. Both 14 M.R.S. 6030-E and the LD 799 marijuana policy require written notice plus a signed acknowledgment before lease signing or deposit. A tenant can't sue you solely for failing to disclose, but missing paperwork undercuts enforcement and makes a possession- or cultivation-based termination harder to defend.
Federal authority: 21 U.S.C. § 812; HUD PIH 2014-21. State authority: 28-B M.R.S. § 1501 et seq. (Question 1, 2016). Last updated August 17, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Cannabis law is rapidly evolving and federal/state conflict creates significant compliance risk; consult a licensed Maine attorney before making a lease, screening, or eviction decision involving cannabis.
