A recent front-page article described the dilemma of a man in Washington who lost custody of his children because of his reliance on "medical marijuana."

The editorial the same day opined regarding the problem of increased tobacco smoking among teenagers.

The groundwork was done years ago on the latter situation, so those with a desire to do something about it can pretty much cut to the chase without having to engage in pointless quibbling and far-fetched rationalizations launched in defense of the activity.

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WILTON - A Vienna couple have applied to the state to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in the Dexter building at 932 Route 2 East, the same site chosen by two other dispensary applicants.

Timothy and Jennifer Smale will present their plans to the town Planning Board at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 1, at the town office.

The Smales turned their application for the Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin zone into the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday, the deadline for filing. According to the DHHS website, 29 applications have been received to operate medical marijuana dispensaries in the eight designated zones of Maine. Results are expected to be announced on July 9.

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Maine's new medical marijuana law has two key conditions for those who want to open one of the state's first dispensaries.

Operators have to be Maine residents, and they have to register as nonprofits.

Neither condition, however, has kept investors and entrepreneurs from coming from outside the state to be part of the new industry.

Several of the groups that applied for operating licenses last week are led by recent arrivals from California or other states where they learned the medical marijuana business. One group with California connections even hopes to open five of the state's eight dispensaries - -- and, to improve its odds, it hired the Augusta lobbyist who helped write Maine's new law. Local applicants say they've been called by investors from around the country who want to help finance the dispensaries.

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ELIOT, Maine - In a three-hour meeting Thursday night, selectmen voted 3-1 for a public hearing and special board meeting for a town ordinance to control marijuana dispensaries.

The meeting will be held Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The board is seeking approval for a local ordinance allowing local controls for any legal marijuana dispensary looking to locate in Eliot.

A proposed ordinance written by former selectman John Murphy was introduced Thursday night.

Murphy said, "The involvement of policing is minimal" in the state law passed by voters statewide in the November 2009 election to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Maine. Newly reelected selectman Michael Moynahan noted, "Under our existing local ordinances, anyone could just come in under agricultural zoning. We need to act on this and fast."

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The panel reviewing the 29 applications for eight facilities will award licenses on July 9.

Seventeen groups hope to be among the first to open nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries in Maine, state officials said Friday.

Maine's Department of Health and Human Services received 29 license applications from those groups before the deadline at 2 p.m. Friday. Some submitted multiple applications in hopes of operating more than one dispensary, or at least increasing their chances of operating one.

The submission of applications is a major step toward implementing the law passed by Maine voters last fall. It calls for a dispensary network to enhance access to the drug for registered patients with illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.

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Hermon Possible Site For Plant Cultivation

BREWER, Maine - A California marijuana dispensary operator approached the city last week about opening a medical marijuana clinic in Brewer near CancerCare of Maine and is talking to neighboring Hermon about a cultivation facility, officials in those communities confirmed on Wednesday.

"The company is applying for the Penquis region dispensary and, if successful, would like to possibly locate it in Brewer," D'arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer's economic development director, said in a June 15 memo to City Manager Steve Bost. "They are interested in one of the [Brewer Economic Development Corp.]-owned lots out on Dirigo Drive" near CancerCare of Maine and the offices of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems.

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Patients who have long been eligible to benefit from Maine's medical marijuana law are looking forward to actually obtaining prescribed relief, once regional marijuana dispensaries are able to open throughout the state.

The dispensary system was authorized by voters last year for patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS and other serious ailments. But it appears that cautious implementation will keep them waiting a while longer.

Such delay is both regrettable and inevitable. The tasks of licensing businesses to distribute marijuana, and issuing local permits for clinics to operate, have required considerable analysis and debate. With an important deadline approaching, it's not clear how licenses will be awarded.

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A Portland City Councilor hopes to derail a proposed six-month moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

David Marshall plans to introduce a council order at Monday's meeting to allow state-licensed dispensaries in the downtown business zones. He is scheduled to formally announce the proposal at a news conference at City hall this morning.

The council's already scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday on a six-month ban that would allow planning officials to create siting and operating rules. The proposal is facing strong opposition because it could delay the opening of the state's largest dispensary.

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PORTLAND -- Portland may soon become one of dozens of Maine communities to temporarily ban medical marijuana dispensaries slated to open around the state later this year.

But when it comes to getting marijuana into the hands of suffering patients, advocates say Maine's largest city is the last place where local officials should stand in the way.

"Portland is really a service center. It's a place where people have access to public transportation in a state with very little public transportation," said Alysia Melnick, an attorney with the Maine Civil Liberties Union. "That makes it even more important that Portland not put up barriers to access."

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The City Council will hold a public hearing June 21 before deciding whether to adopt a moratorium.

PORTLAND - Portland may soon become one of dozens of Maine communities to temporarily ban medical marijuana dispensaries slated to open around the state later this year.

But when it comes to getting marijuana into the hands of suffering patients, advocates say Maine's largest city is the last place where local officials should stand in the way.

"Portland is really a service center. It's a place where people have access to public transportation in a state with very little public transportation," said Alysia Melnick, an attorney with the Maine Civil Liberties Union. "That makes it even more important that Portland not put up barriers to access."

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Contractor Looks to Open Four of Maine's Eight Dispensaries

FARMINGTON -- A local contractor knows his plan to open half of the state's medical marijuana dispensaries is ambitious

Even a hefty application fee and a competitive selection process haven't kept Luke Sirois from trying.

When state voters approved medical marijuana dispensaries in November, a lot of people had the same idea that Sirois had -- to get in early on Maine's newest business.

The $15,000 application fee, however, deterred many of them. Still, there probably will be between 20 and 40 applicants vying to run at least one of the state's eight dispensaries, according to Jonathan Leavitt, executive director of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative.

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The Legislature can make adjustments later if the new program is shown to have flaws.

Maine voters approved such sweeping changes to the medical marijuana law last year that it should be considered an entirely new program.

Given that, the fee structure created by the Legislature to implement the new law should be given a chance to work before it gets adjusted.

At a hearing this week, some medical marijuana patients made the case that the proposed annual charges -- $100 for a patient, and $300 for a home grower -- are too high.

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PORTLAND -- Maine is about to become one of the first states to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana, and about 250 patients, caregivers and prospective suppliers gathered here Saturday to learn how the new system will work.

Many who attended the Maine Medical Cannabis Conference at the University of Southern Maine have been using the drug legally for as long as 10 years to treat chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma and a variety of other medical conditions. But a law passed by voters last fall and set to take effect in January requires all users to register and sets up a network of eight dispensaries that will be licensed to grow and sell marijuana around the state.

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SANFORD - A South Berwick company is considering setting up a medical marijuana dispensary in one of Sanford's old textile mills.

Green Relief MD is eyeing Stone Mill Place, a six-story former textile mill owned by Eric Stone on Emery Street in the millyard.

Under rules set by the state following passage of the medical marijuana referendum in November 2009, York County will be allowed one state-approved, non-profit medical marijuana dispensary. The county is one of eight Public Health Districts set up across the state for dispensary locations.

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PITTSFIELD, Maine -- A man whose home was raided by drug agents said the state owes him thousands of dollars for 19 seized marijuana plants that he says he was growing in compliance with Maine's medical marijuana law.

James P. Fowler, 44, of Pittsfield, who was charged with cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana after the March 19 raid, said that based on figures used by drug investigators to value marijuana plants, he is owed up to $38,000.

"If they can use $2,000 a plant against me, what's good for the goose is good for the gander," said Fowler, who lives alone at 139 A St. in Pittsfield. "I want some sort of compensation."

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Few would disagree that drugs -- legal and illegal -- are more a scourge on society today than they were 50 years ago. In Maine, the abuse of prescription painkillers has been well-documented. Drugs like heroin, crack and methamphetamine, once seen even by drug users as dead-end substances, have returned to our cities and towns and no longer hold the stigma they once did.

Few would disagree that drug abuse demands government intervention. But the "war on drugs" approach is not working.

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AUGUSTA, Maine -- The effort to expand access to marijuana in Maine for both medical use and by the general population will continue with two new petitions being circulated by Maine Vocals.

Maine Vocals founder Don Christen of Madison said his group seeks to expand and improve existing medical marijuana laws in one petition and to legalize pot outright in the other.

The medical marijuana petition would repeal the Maine Medical Marijuana Act and replace it with a new law proposed by Maine Vocals, according to text of the proposal provided by the Secretary of State's Office. Maine elections director Melissa Packard said Monday that her office approved the text of both of Maine Vocals' petitions on April 30.

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Former California Operator Interested

AUGUSTA -- With at least one inquiry already made about opening a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary in Augusta, city councilors are considering rules to restrict where such facilities could locate.

Councilors discussed ordinance changes to address medical marijuana dispensaries Thursday, and are expected to consider the first of two required readings to adopt the changes at their business meeting next week.

In the meantime, a now-local resident who City Manager William Bridgeo said has worked with an established medical marijuana dispensary in California hopes to open a facility in or around Augusta.

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Augusta plans another hearing April 27, while Hallowell's manager is reviewing ordinances.

Officials in Augusta and Hallowell are preparing to roll out new policies to accommodate medical marijuana sales.

Augusta officials are drafting language to add medical marijuana dispensaries to the city's land-use ordinance, probably allowing them to operate in a medical district near the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in north Augusta.

In Hallowell, city councilors recently decided against enacting a moratorium on marijuana dispensaries. Instead, councilors directed City Manager Todd Shea to handle permit applications for a dispensary as he would an application to open any new business.

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The System Includes a First-Year Limit on Sales Sites and Eventually Will Require All Marijuana-Using Patients to Register With the State.

AUGUSTA - The House gave final approval Monday to a bill establishing a medical marijuana dispensary and registration system in Maine.

After a short debate, the House voted 128-17 in favor of the bill, which expands the existing medical marijuana law. In a November referendum, 59 percent of state voters supported allowing nonprofit dispensaries.

The bill makes several changes to the measure approved by voters.

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