Pubdate: Mon, 28 Aug 2000
Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)
Copyright: 2000, Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.portland.com/
Forum: http://www.portland.com/cgi-bin/COMMUNITY/netforum/community/a/1
Author: Paul Carrier, Portland Press Herald Writer

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA LAW UNDER REVIEW

Almost a year after Maine voters passed a law allowing some sick people to
possess and use small amounts of marijuana, state officials are still trying
to figure out how to make the law work.

A task force that has been looking at the issue for months hopes to come up
with recommendations by Oct. 1, although the Legislature has given the panel
until Dec. 1 to do its job. Lawmakers will consider the recommendations next
year.

What the 28-member task force will suggest remains to be seen, but the major
recommendations are sure to deal with whether the state should create a
distribution system for medicinal marijuana and whether the state should
register patients who are legally entitled to the drug.

The creation of the task force, which grew out of a failed effort in the
last legislative session to have the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency
distribute confiscated marijuana to those who need it, shows that the new
law is going through some growing pains and may need a little fine-tuning.

"I think what the people passed had a very pointed intent," said Cumberland
County Sheriff Mark Dion, a member of the task force. But he said the law
that was enacted by referendum in November 1999 fell a bit short as far as
"filling in all of the details."

The law legalizes the use of small amounts of marijuana by Mainers 18 and
older who suffer from certain illnesses, such as AIDS and cancer, if they
have a doctor's written approval to use the drug to fight nausea, loss of
appetite or other symptoms.

The law allows a qualified patient to possess up to 1.25 ounces of harvested
marijuana and up to six marijuana plants, of which no more than three may be
mature, flowering plants.

The law as approved by the voters makes no other provision for patients to
acquire marijuana for medicinal use. Nor does it set up any kind of system
to keep track of who is legally entitled to the drug.

That has fueled calls for a distribution system and a registration system,
but opinions vary on the best way to address both issues.

Advocates for medicinal marijuana argue that the law has its drawbacks as
far as access is concerned.

For one thing, limiting patients to small purchases of processed marijuana
raises costs. And some advocates say restricting patients to six plants is
impractical because it prevents qualified users from growing enough
marijuana outdoors during the state's relatively short growing season to get
them through the year.

Indoor growing is an alternative, but advocates say some patients lack the
space or the money to grow plants indoors. They say the grow-your-own
solution is useless to a newly diagnosed patient who may need marijuana
immediately and cannot wait several months for plants to mature. And they
say some patients may be too handicapped or simply too sick to grow their
own plants, indoors or out.

"I don't have the room (to grow indoors). I don't have the money to pay CMP"
for the necessary lighting, said Carroll Cummings of Vassalboro, who uses
marijuana on the advice of his doctor to relieve the pain he suffers from
various medical problems. Cummings was arrested this month for possessing
more marijuana than the law allows.

"An ounce and a quarter does not even last me a whole week," Cummings said.
He said the state should allow large-scale growing by distributors serving
medically qualified users.

One suggestion being considered by the task force involves a limited
distribution system in which a qualified marijuana user could grow or buy
enough marijuana for two people, by doubling the possession limit and by
allowing such a person to have 12 plants instead of six. In effect, such
people would supply themselves and one other qualified user.

But some advocates are talking about a more sweeping alternative that might
allow nonprofit agencies to operate monitored marijuana distribution centers
throughout the state, on a regional basis.

"We want a distribution system that will take people off the black market"
and allow patients to get "a month's supply at a time, for a reasonable
cost," said Elizabeth Beane, director of Mainers for Medical Rights, the
group that successfully promoted the medicinal marijuana referendum last
year.

The size and number of such distribution centers could vary, but the idea is
so controversial that the task force is almost sure to split over it. A few
large centers might be easier for the police to monitor than many small
ones, but critics say large centers might pose a greater risk of illegal
trafficking.

Opponents fear any substantial distribution network would trigger the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds for various criminal-justice
programs.

"I don't think there's going to be a clear recommendation" to the
Legislature on distribution, said Rep. Edward Povich, D-Ellsworth, the
co-chairman of the task force.

Clearly distribution "is going to be the most troublesome issue" facing the
task force, said Roy McKinney of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, another
member of the panel.

The committee may unite behind a registration system for marijuana users,
but there is some disagreement there as well. Should registration be
voluntary or mandatory?

The existing law authorizes Mainers to possess and use marijuana if they
have what the law calls "an authenticated copy of a medical record or other
written documentation from a physician," saying that the users need
marijuana for medical reasons.

But, as Dion noted, police "can always question the validity of a document
from a doctor."

One way around that would be to have the state, perhaps through the
Department of Human Services, register legitimate users and give them a
standardized authorization card similar to a driver's license that would
automatically be accepted by police as proof of medical need.

"It's likely that some sort of registration system will be among the
recommendations," said Assistant Attorney General James Cameron, co-chairman
of the task force. Supporters say that would make it easier for the police
to identify legitimate users and protect such users from police harassment
or mistaken arrest.

Registration becomes all the more important - perhaps essential - if the
state sanctions a distribution system. Making registration mandatory would
guarantee uniformity, but supporters of a voluntary system argue that
mandatory registration would weaken the law passed by the voters, by forcing
users to register for something to which they are now entitled without
registration.

"We see (mandatory registration) as a step backward," said Beane, the
director of Mainers for Medical Rights.

In any case, making registration mandatory may not be necessary to get the
job done. Cameron said experts believe "virtually every patient would
register" under a voluntary system, to avoid misunderstandings with the
police.
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