Pubdate: Sat, 14 May 2011
Source: Morning Sentinel (Waterville, ME)
Copyright: 2011 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Contact: 
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/readerservices/Send_a_Letter_to_the_Editor-MS.html
Website: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1474
Author: John Richardson
Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-me (Maine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

PANEL OKs BILL TO KILL MARIJUANA REGISTRY

Mainers who use marijuana to ease symptoms of chronic medical 
conditions would no longer have to register with the state under a 
proposal that appears likely to be approved by the Legislature.

The Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee voted 
unanimously this week in favor of an amended version of L.D. 1296, 
which sought to deregulate Maine's medical marijuana program and 
protect the privacy of patients.

No vote has been scheduled in the House or Senate, but the bipartisan 
support -- and the blessing of the LePage administration -- means the 
bill is almost certain to pass.

There is one potential hitch. The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing 
the bill, and the state's existing rules, and is expected to add its 
input before a final vote.

Marijuana use, whether for medicinal use or not, remains a federal 
crime. While the U.S. Department of Justice has historically not 
interfered with state-sanctioned medical uses of the drug, U.S. 
attorneys have recently objected to the expansion of medical 
marijuana programs in other states, including Rhode Island.

Maine's amended bill doesn't include everything that medical 
marijuana advocates wanted, but it would provide the kind of access 
and privacy protection that voters endorsed in 2009, said the bill's 
sponsor, Deborah Sanderson, R-Chelsea.

"It really affords patient privacy," Sanderson said Friday. "The 
registration becomes voluntary and the patient's diagnosis remains 
with the doctor."

Under the current law and rules, any patient who wants to use 
marijuana legally must pay $100 and provide the state with a doctor's 
recommendation listing AIDS, cancer, glaucoma or some other 
qualifying medical condition. State-issued registration cards must be 
shown to police or to medical marijuana dispensaries to prove that 
patients are using or seeking the drug legally.

Although the state has registered more than 1,000 patients, activists 
argued that many more are reluctant to register because they fear 
that their names and medical information will be revealed to others, 
especially to federal drug agents.

The pending bill would make registration, and the annual fee, 
optional for patients. A patient who doesn't want to register and 
receive a state medical marijuana card would instead have to show a 
doctor's certification that they are a qualified user.

Also, doctors would no longer be required to reveal patients' 
specific medical conditions to the state or list their diagnoses on 
the certifications.

Caregivers who grow medical marijuana for members of their families 
or households would no longer be required to register, under the 
bill. But caregivers who grow marijuana for patients who are not 
related to them would still have to register and pay the existing 
$300-a-year fee.

There is a growing number of small-scale commercial caregivers, and 
each is allowed to supply as many as five patients.

Maine's eight large-scale dispensaries would continue to register and 
pay their $15,000 annual fees.

The amended bill addresses privacy problems in the current law, said 
Alysia Melnick, public policy counsel with the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

"The (Department of Health and Human Services) is going to purge all 
specific medical information about patients," she said. "Any time you 
are basically coercing people to put their private medical 
information on a statewide database, then patients are at risk of 
having their privacy violated."

Parts of the original bill that raised the strongest objections from 
the DHHS were dropped.

Activists wanted to allow physicians to recommend marijuana use for 
any patients they felt would benefit from the drug, regardless of the 
underlying conditions. The amended bill says marijuana could be 
recommended only to patients who have qualifying conditions.

The bill would create a new streamlined process for adding conditions 
to that list. Doctors or patients would be able to petition the DHHS, 
which could hold public hearings and adopt rules to expand the list.

As lawmakers and others negotiated the compromise during the past few 
weeks, U.S. attorneys in other states were objecting to expanding 
access to medical marijuana.

The U.S. attorney in Rhode Island, for example, wrote to Gov. Lincoln 
Chafee in late April that a state law establishing dispensaries 
conflicts with federal law, and that large-scale growing and selling 
of the drug could lead to civil and legal action.

That led the legislative committee to ask Maine's U.S. attorney, 
Thomas Delahanty, for his opinion on the pending bill.

Donald Clark, an assistant U.S. attorney, provided a statement from 
Delahanty saying the office is reviewing the proposal and existing 
state law and plans to respond to the Health and Human Services Committee.

"This will be viewed in light of the fact that ... much of the 
activity taking place under Maine's Medical Marijuana Act remains 
illegal under federal law," Clark said.

Sanderson, the bill's sponsor, said she spoke with Delahanty about 
the conflict. And, while she doesn't expect the U.S. attorney to 
endorse Maine's law, she doesn't expect the federal government to 
crack down on medical use of the drug in Maine.

"They just want to make sure that that's what it really is being used 
for," she said. "In the state of Maine, we've got some pretty clear 
guidelines. Unless we do some sort of huge diversion from the track 
we are on, which will greatly deregulate (marijuana use), I think 
we'll continue to be OK."  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake