MAINERS STRONGLY SUPPORT ALLOWING MARIJUANA TO BE USED FOR MEDICAL REASONS

Rejecting the concerns of doctors, police and prosecutors, Mainers went to
the polls Tuesday and just said yes to medical marijuana.

Question 2, which legalizes the use of small amounts of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, passed by a large margin. With 88 percent precincts
reporting, 61 percent of voters agreed that Mainers suffering from certain
medical conditions should be allowed to buy, grow and use the drug to
alleviate their symptoms without fear of prosecution.

Thirty-nine percent of Mainers voted against the law.

Mainers for Medical Rights, the group behind the referendum, said the vote
sends a strong message favoring "compassionate and common sense" use of
medical marijuana.

"I think it sends a message that the people of Maine expect some leadership
from Augusta on this issue," said Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion, who
supported Question 2, "and that the law should stand for more than
enforcement, that it has to have a compassionate component as well."

With the approval of Question 2, Maine became the eighth state to pass a
law legalizing medical marijuana. Under the new law, patients will not be
prosecuted as long as they have their doctor's written approval to use the
drug to fight their nausea, loss of appetite and other symptoms. Patients
will be allowed to possess only 1.25 ounces of the drug at any time, or no
more than six marijuana plants.

Many voters interviewed at the polls Tuesday seemed to be casting a very
personal vote, saying that they know someone with AIDS or cancer who could
benefit from the drug.

Rupert Neily, 53, of Hallowell, said his father has prostate cancer and
uses marijuana to relieve the pain. "It has been helpful to him," Neily
said, adding that the law is long overdue.

Question 2 had no organized opposition, but Gov. Angus King, the Maine
Medical Association, U.S. Attorney Jay McCloskey and various law
enforcement officials spoke out against it.

Law enforcement officials said they fear a medical marijuana law will
complicate the enforcement of federal drug laws, and doctors worry about
running afoul of those laws.

Some Mainers shared those concerns and decided to vote against Question 2.

Richard Esten, 49, of South Portland said he would have felt more
comfortable with the law if everything was under a doctor's control. But
the idea of people growing their own marijuana, even for use as medicine,
made him uneasy.

"To use it's one thing, under a doctor's prescription, but to grow it is
something else," he said. "I think that puts it out of control."

Other voters said they believe those details can be dealt with later.

"I agree that there should be a better way of limiting the dosages and
controlling it," said Rhianna Meadows, 19, of Portland, "but I think that
voting yes is a good way to get the ball rolling."

Although many law enforcement officials opposed Question 2, Dion, the
Cumberland County sheriff, voiced his support. That had some influence on
Gail Huston, 38, of South Portland.

"I figured if there are some people who are in the legal system who are
recommending it, then it's probably a good thing," she said.

Passage of the law in Maine adds significant fuel to the national debate
over medical marijuana, observers say.

Although voters in several states and the District of Columbia have voted
on medical marijuana laws, currently there are only four states where
medical marijuana programs have actually been put into place. California
passed its law in 1996, followed by Alaska, Oregon and Washington in 1998.

Voters in Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and the District of Columbia have also
passed medical marijuana laws, but for different reasons programs were
never developed there. Colorado and Nevada will be voting on the issue
again in 2000.

Gina Pesulima of California-based Americans for Medical Rights said that
because almost all of these elections were in the West, there has always
been a perception that they reflected "a West Coast attitude" about medical
marijuana.

But with Maine passing a similar measure, "I think there may be more of a
perception that this is an issue that has national support among the
population of voters," she said.

Proponents of medical marijuana also hope passage of the law will put more
pressure on the federal government to address the issue.

"For us the significance is that it's forcing Congress to confront the way
it regulates drugs," said Rob Stewart of the Drug Policy Foundation in
Washington, D.C.

Calvina Fay of the Florida-based Drug Free America Foundation, which
opposes the medical use of marijuana, said passage of the law in Maine
"sets an extremely bad precedent." She said it will send the wrong message
to young people and lead to more recreational use of the drug.

"It's just going to help spread misinformation to the public all over the
country," she said.

Maine voters, however, disagreed.

John Buckley, 77, of South Portland, voted for Question 2. He said while he
recognizes there are some concerns about the law, he's confident the
"actual nuts and bolts" will be worked out later.

"From what I've seen, this is the only viable alternative that is available
to many people that need this to keep them from pain," he said.