Pubdate: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 Source: Portland Press Herald (ME) Copyright: 1999 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.portland.com/ Author: Paul Carrier, Staff Writer MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA HAS FEW VOCAL FOES AUGUSTA -- It may be a hot-button issue, but a November referendum that would legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes could sound like a one-sided argument, for one simple reason -- there is no organized opposition to it. With more than six weeks to go before the Nov. 2 election, no one has created a political action committee to raise and spend money fighting the marijuana question that is on the ballot. That leaves Mainers for Medical Rights, the group promoting the referendum, with no formal opposition. That, in turn, could mean that no one will mount an advertising campaign against the referendum between now and Election Day, although there is still time for opponents to organize. At issue is the second question on the November ballot. It asks voters if they want to "allow patients with specific illnesses to grow and use small amounts of marijuana for treatment, as long as such use is approved by a doctor?" Approval of the referendum would implement a law allowing Mainers to possess "a usable amount of marijuana for medical use" if a physician believes that would help a patient suffering from any of several specific illnesses or ailments spelled out in the law. The ailments include persistent nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite or "wasting syndrome" from AIDS or cancer treatments; glaucoma; seizures from a chronic disease; and muscle spasms from a chronic disease. The law would define a usable amount of marijuana as 1.25 ounces of harvested marijuana and as many as six plants, including up to three mature plants. The state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which tracks political action committees, reports the only PAC registered to raise and spend money on the marijuana referendum is Mainers for Medical Rights, the group pushing the plan. There are no registered PACs opposing it. The Maine Medical Association, which represents the state's doctors, voted against the referendum at its annual meeting Friday. But Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the association, said Monday his group has "no current plans to mount what I would call an organized campaign against the ballot question." Smith said the medical association or some of its members may express their opposition in newspaper columns or letters to the editor. But he said the anti-marijuana resolution approved by the association does not call for an advertising blitz and there was no discussion of such a campaign at last week's annual meeting. In effect, the medical association plans to let its vote speak for itself. Other groups that might have been expected to fight the referendum, such as law enforcement officials and social and religious conservatives, have not entered the fray. The lobbyist and the president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association could not be reached for comment Monday. Michael Heath of the Christian Civic League of Maine said his group would have examined the marijuana referendum more closely if it wasn't focusing most of its energy on trying to pass a separate referendum to outlaw so-called partial-birth abortions. All of which leaves Mainers for Medical Rights alone in the race as the campaign unfolds. But Craig Brown, a leader of that group, said supporters of the referendum are taking nothing for granted and have not ruled out the possibility that an opposition campaign will surface in the weeks ahead. "We're planning, whether we have opposition or not, to be aggressively getting out our message that there are patients who are dying and suffering now because they can't get this medicine," Brown said. He said referendum organizers have not decided whether to launch an advertising campaign if there is no opposition advertising. Brown said his organization still has to overcome some public skepticism because of what he described as "all the fear and reefer madness hysteria that have made the climate so difficult for applying common sense" to the issue. Still, a recent statewide poll of 400 Mainers by Critical Insights in Portland found widespread support for the marijuana referendum. The poll, conducted from Sept. 8-13, listed 68 percent of those polled as supporting the referendum, 29 percent as opposing it and 3 percent as offering no opinion or refusing to answer the question. William Coogan, a political scientist at the University of Southern Maine, said it is unfortunate when any referendum campaign fails to generate organized opposition. He said voters who rely on advertising can be left without a balanced presentation if supporters are the only partisans who advertise. "Having no opposition, you can make whatever claims you want to use and you won't be tripped up by the opposition," Coogan said. "It's too bad there aren't people on the other side." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake