Pubdate: Mon, 12 Feb 2001
Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)
Copyright: 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  50 Monument Square, Suite 302, Portland, ME 04101
Fax: (207) 879-1042
Website: http://www.portland.com/
Forum: http://www.portland.com/cgi-in/COMMUNITY/netforum/community/a/1
Author: Dieter Bradbury

MAINE'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW LEAVES SOME PATIENTS VULNERABLE

When he wants to sleep, Leonard Ellis of New Vineyard smokes marijuana to 
ease the pain of his muscular dystrophy. Charles Wynott of Portland puffs 
on a joint to relieve the nausea caused by his AIDS medications. And 
Carroll Cummings of Vassalboro uses pot to manage the agony of spinal disease.

Maine's medical marijuana law, endorsed by an overwhelming majority of 
voters in a 1999 referendum, was supposed to shield people like these from 
state prosecution for using an illegal drug. Yet all three men face 
possible fines or jail time for marijuana possession or cultivation charges.

Elizabeth Beane, director of Mainers for Medical Rights, says the federal 
government is an impediment to the state's medical marijuana law being 
properly implemented.

Their plights shed light on the unresolved conflicts and challenges 
embedded in the controversial law.

Sick people say the measure imposes unrealistic conditions on their 
possession and cultivation of the drug. Doctors are reluctant to recommend 
it to their patients because of legal or medical concerns. And those who 
campaigned for the law say federal prohibitions against marijuana continue 
to hobble its medicinal use.

"If the federal government would get out of the way and let the doctors 
work on the issue with patients, then it could be made available in truly 
legal ways," said Elizabeth Beane, director of Mainers for Medical Rights.

Maine voters passed the medical marijuana law by a solid 61-39 percent 
margin, making this the ninth state that has legalized medicinal use of the 
drug.

Under the law, a person is exempt from state prosecution if he or she is 
using pot for symptoms associated with cancer therapy, AIDS, glaucoma, 
epilepsy and diseases that cause severe muscle spasms.

The condition must be diagnosed by a doctor who provides continuous care to 
the patient and recommends the use of marijuana in writing. Also, a patient 
may possess no more than 1.25 ounces of processed marijuana and six live 
plants.

No one knows how many residents have obtained doctors' recommendations and 
supplies of marijuana since the law passed. There is no patient 
registration requirement.

Beane, a licensed clinical social worker from Gorham, says she knows of 
several AIDS patients who obtained the approval of their doctors and 
regularly use marijuana. She says the law is working well for people who 
have a supportive physician and a trusted marijuana supplier.

"But for people who have these fringe issues, it's not working so well," 
she said.

Among those on the fringe are the three men who are facing possible drug 
prosecution.

Wynott, the Portland man with AIDS, has a note recommending marijuana use 
that was written by a doctor in Florida, where he lived until April. But 
the note is not valid under Maine law.

Wynott says he hasn't been able to find a doctor here who is willing to act 
as his primary care physician.

"I do know doctors that have written notes (recommending medical marijuana 
for their patients)," he said. "There's a handful of them, but they aren't 
accepting new patients."

During the referendum campaign, the Maine Medical Association opposed the 
law. It has since issued an advisory, offering to support doctors who 
believe their patients could benefit from marijuana. But the advisory also 
notes that doctors are not obligated to write notes.

Ellis, 62, a muscular dystrophy patient, and Cummings, 53, who has 
torticollis, a rare condition that causes spinal deterioration, were able 
to get recommendations from their doctors.

They were arrested because they had more marijuana at their homes than the 
law allows.

Cummings' lawyer, Patricia Danisika-Washburn of Skowhegan, admits that her 
client had 29 plants and three-quarters of a pound of marijuana in his 
possession. She says he has to grow that much marijuana in the summer to 
get him through the winter because growing inside is expensive and difficult.

David Sanders, a lawyer who represents Ellis, says many people who qualify 
under the law are too disabled to cultivate the plants and can't afford the 
equipment needed indoors.

And it's neither legal nor realistic, Sanders says, to expect an older 
person in poor health to go to a street corner or back alley and buy 
black-market marijuana from a dealer.

"The problem with the statute is, it's unworkable," he said. "They expect 
you to walk this tightrope of continuous and year-round cultivation."

Dr. Owen Pickus, a Portland physician who specializes in the treatment of 
infectious diseases, says he has been able to treat his AIDS patients 
effectively without recommending marijuana.

Pickus says he would write a note supporting marijuana use if the medical 
circumstances dictated it, and he knows other doctors who have done so. But 
Pickus notes that doctors who recommend marijuana could be in danger of 
losing their federal licenses to prescribe scheduled drugs.

Another physician who treats AIDS patients, Dr. Robert Smith of Portland, 
says many doctors are uncomfortable recommending marijuana because they 
can't be sure of its purity or the risks of its interaction with other 
medication.

Observers agree that the major barrier to progress is the federal 
government's failure to reclassify marijuana. The federal Drug Enforcement 
Administration continues to list it as a "schedule one" drug, meaning it 
has no therapuetic value.

Pickus says there is ample scientific evidence that marijuana works to 
alleviate certain symptoms. Some components of pot's active ingredient, he 
adds, have been marketed legally in pill form.

"There is a real need for federal legislation," he said. "There is no 
reason for this to be a sacred cow."

Supporters of the law are keeping the pressure on by introducing another 
bill to create a state-sanctioned distribution system for marijuana. The 
Legislature will hold hearings on the proposal this winter.

However, one law enforcement official, Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion, 
says the state could be doing a better job of providing more immediate help 
to patients who use marijuana.

Dion supports the idea of a small, nonprofit marijuana growing operation, 
together with a registry for patients who qualify and have consulted with 
their doctors on medical use of marijuana.

He says such a system would allow police to use discretion if they find 
someone growing too many pot plants.

"That would provide some immediate relief, and I think that's what voters 
wanted when they passed this law," Dion said.

Meanwhile, patients like the three Maine men who were arrested will soon be 
dealing with the courts.

Wynott has been given 45 days to find a doctor before a Ninth District 
Court judge in Portland acts on his marijuana possession charge.

Cummings, through his lawyer, will file a motion soon in Seventh District 
Court in Waterville to suppress the evidence seized at his home.

And Ellis goes to trial today in Franklin County Superior Court on charges 
of marijuana cultivation. If convicted, he could go to jail for a year.
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