STATE WOULD DISTRIBUTE CONFISCATED MARIJUANA TO MEDICAL USERS UNDER BILL

PORTLAND, Maine - 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," Sen. Anne Rand, D-Portland,
said Monday.

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. "You've got to do what you've got to
do, and that's the unfortunate thing about this," he said.

The Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee was scheduled to
discuss the bill further Thursday. Maine's attorney general hopes to
form a task force to study the question.

Marijuana is banned by the federal government, although voters in six
states have approved laws allowing the drug to be used for medical
purposes.

The Maine law 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 1 1/4
ounce of marijuana or six plants, no more than three of which may be
flowering.