PANEL SPLIT AS FINAL DISTRIBUTION REPORT ISSUED

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) A report issued Wednesday suggesting ways to distribute
marijuana to sick patients in Maine borrows schemes from three Pacific
Coast states and proposes a statewide cooperative to sell the drug to patients.

The cooperative would be the first of its kind in the nation, according to
the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., which applauded the idea.

But members of Maine's Task Force on Medical Marijuana gave less-than-solid
support as some said it lacked depth and substance and decided to issue
their own version.

"I've just had one day to look at this. It's not enough time," said member
Bryan Clark of Portland, who has AIDS caused by hemophilia and has a
medical recommendation to use marijuana.

Maine voters last November approved a referendum proposal to legalize
marijuana for certain medicinal uses, for example, those who have AIDS, are
undergoing chemotherapy and who have glaucoma.

The Legislature would have to authorize final recommendations of the
28-member task force on how the drug should be handed out to those allowed
to use it.

The report endorsed by the group's majority calls for a voluntary patient
and caregiver registry like Washington and Oregon have. It would create a
distribution system allowing eligible patients to grow small extra
quantities of marijuana to share with one other patient each.

It also calls for a single, nonprofit center to sell marijuana to
registered patients, similar to locally approved marijuana cooperatives in
California.

Maine would take "a bold step" by becoming the first state to officially
sanction a distribution center, said the Marijuana Policy Project, which
lobbies at the federal level to ease marijuana laws.

Because federal drug laws are at odds with Maine's new policy, it is
unclear whether the federal government would allow a state distribution
center to operate.

The task force report also calls for a state-sponsored clinical research
program, similar to one in California, that would study the active
ingredients in marijuana The proposal would allow research on smoked
marijuana, but "preference would be given to non-smoked methods of
ingesting the active ingredients," the report says.

Some members of the task force were dissatisfied with the report, saying it
should include a more complete record of members' discussions and details
of how its recommendations would be carried out.

"The process is half-baked," said Nat Hussy, a member.

Elizabeth Beane, director of Mainers for Medical Rights, said her group
supports the idea of having a state distribution center, which would be run
as a pilot project.

But Beane's group, which led Maine's medical marijuana initiative campaign,
is uneasy with having a registry and a patient-to-patient system of handing
out the drug.

Beane said her group has no problem with further marijuana research, but
does not know how it would happen because there is no state-run medical
school or program in place to do the reserasch.

A task force co-chairman, state Rep. Edward Povich, said the process was
open and invited diverse views, but he was reluctant to extend its mission.

"At some point, we have to end the job," said Povich. The Ellsworth
Democrat gave the critics three weeks to issue their own report.

Attorney General Andrew Ketterer said the panel deserves credit for working
toward a consensus, but that can't always be accomplished.

"I think the important thing is to get the information to the Legislature,"
he said.