JACKMAN — A Jackman man is free on bail after police raided his home Thursday and arrested him on marijuana cultivation charges.

The man, Nathan M. Storey, 30, was found in possession of 71 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, said Dale Lancaster, chief deputy for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department. Lancaster said Storey was engaged in an indoor growing operation in two rooms at his home at John’s Trailer Park, off Coburn West Street.

Police seized the plants as well as a few ounces of processed marijuana, marijuana oil, lights, cultivation equipment, digital scales, drug paraphernalia, how-to documents on growing marijuana indoors, hypodermic needles and bags containing what police think is heroin residue.

Storey is charged with marijuana cultivation, a class D crime, punishable by up to 364 days in jail; and with furnishing marijuana, a class E crime, punishable by up to six months in jail.

Growing more than five marijuana plants and fewer than 100 is a class D crime in Maine. Growing five or fewer plants is a class E crime, according to Maine law.

Lancaster said the search warrant was executed about 8 a.m. Thursday by the county warrant team. Storey was taken to the Somerset County Jail in East Madison and later released on $500 unsecured bond.

Maine is one of 16 states that have decriminalized marijuana possession of up to 2.5 ounces for personal use and not packaged for sale. It is a civil offense, not a criminal one.

The medical use of marijuana was legalized in Maine in 1999 and voters approved the sale of medical marijuana from certified dispensaries in 2009.

Marijuana is still illegal in any form under federal law.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@mainetoday.com