MEDICAL MARIJUANA WOES CALLED COMMON

Maine is not alone in wrestling with the dilemmas posed by medical
marijuana, according to the executive director of the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Allen St. Pierre says similar problems
have occurred in all nine states with medical marijuana statutes.

St. Pierre says the most effective law may be in Oregon, which created a
registry that now includes the names of 1,100 patients and 300 doctors who
have recommended marijuana for them.

St. Pierre blames the American Medical Association for not supporting
medical marijuana. He says the AMA has decided to wait for Congress to act,
but Congress is looking to the AMA for leadership.

"Marijuana defies the pattern because it's not driven by a profit
incentive," he said. "There is an institutional bias not to move forward on
this."

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has introduced legislation that would
require the federal government to honor state medical marijuana laws.

Elizabeth Beane, director of Mainers for Medical Rights, says Maine's
congressional delegation "has so far taken a hands-off attitude" on Frank's
bill.

She would like to see Congress take a much stronger stand on the issue.

"If the federal government would reschedule the drug, we wouldn't need
these state program," she said.

"In order to push the federal government to do that, we've got to keep
pushing the envelope."