STATE WOULD DISTRIBUTE CONFISCATED MARIJUANA
TO MEDICAL USERS UNDER BILL

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A bill before the Legislature would have the
state distribute confiscated marijuana plants to people who are
allowed to use it for medical reasons.

The law is meant to help people who have trouble getting marijuana to
help treat their medical conditions, a practice that Maine voters
approved in November. But even the bill's sponsor doubts it will pass,
as long as marijuana possession remains illegal under federal law.

"The federal government really has to change its attitude about
marijuana, it's got to allow research," said Sen. Anne Rand, D-Portland.

The bill calls for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to distribute the
marijuana, and provides for a registry of patients allowed to use it.

Bryan Clark, 26, favors the law. He has been using marijuana to quell
the nausea that began after he got the AIDS virus at age 13 from the
blood clotting agent prescribed for his hemophilia.

His doctor has written a letter saying Clark meets the requirements of
the state law. But federal anti-marijuana laws keep Clark from getting
it by prescription, and growing it at home is too expensive, he says --
$500 for lighting equipment and about $50 in electricity per month.

The only other option is buying it illegally, he says, which defeats
the purpose of the new state law.

"The fear ain't over," he said. "You92ve got to do what you92ve got to
do, and that's the unfortunate thing about this."

The Health and Human Services Committee planned a hearing on the bill
this morning.

Maine Attorney General Andrew Ketterer is forming a task force to
study the question. It includes Rand, as well as three physicians and
Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion.

Dion sympathizes with Clark and supported the November ballot
question, but says the new proposal raises "delicate" public policy
questions, such as any liability the state might face for any harm
caused by the marijuana plants it distributes.

"Shall the state be engaged in growing material in order to assure
safety, and then pass that on to designated individuals?" he said.

The co-chairs of the task force are state Rep. Edward Povich,
D-Ellsworth and chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, and James
Cameron, the assistant attorney general who coordinates state drug
prosecutions.

It also includes the president of the Maine Sheriff's Association,
which opposed the medical marijuana law, the director of the Maine
Drug Enforcement Agency and the commissioner of the Maine Department
of Public Safety.

The law approved in November limits medical marijuana use to those who
have nausea, vomiting or wasting syndrome from AIDS; who are
undergoing chemotherapy; who have glaucoma; or who have chronic
seizures or muscle spasms.

Patients must be under a physician's care and must discuss the use of
medical marijuana with the physician.

Patients may have up to an ounce-and-a-quarter of marijuana or six
plants, no more than three of which may be flowering.

Medical marijuana patients are not permitted to smoke marijuana in
public places.