QUESTION 2

MARIJUANA MAY BE GOOD MEDICINE, BUT THIS IS A BAD LAW

Marijuana Should Be Made Available To Patients, But Question 2 Is The Wrong
Way To Do It.

Freeport veterinarian Michael Lindy has a compelling tale to tell about the
role marijuana played in his battle with cancer, and he's telling it to all
who will listen.

After a round of chemotherapy, Lindy was left mentally depressed and
physically weak. The nausea and other symptoms of his intense treatment
also left him wondering if the cure weren't worse than the disease.
Marijuana relieved his symptoms, allowing him to endure six months of a
life-saving treatment. Other medications, including the prescription drug
containing the main active ingredient in marijuana, didn't work as well as
smoking a small amount of pot in the morning and again in the evening.

"Desperation drove me to accept marijuana," he says. "There is no good
substitute, and I tried everything."

Lindy and two others representing Mainers for Medical Rights came by our
office Tuesday, making a pitch for a "yes" vote on Question 2 this election
day. Lindy was also featured in a Portland Press Herald article Monday on
the upcoming vote. His message is that marijuana can help sick people and
that voting "yes" will make it easier for them to get this help.

The referendum question asks Mainers if marijuana should be made legal for
people suffering from a variety diseases to grow and possess relatively
small amounts of marijuana. It's hard not to have compassion for people
ravaged by disease. If using marijuana makes it easier to endure AIDS or
chemotherapy or multiple sclerosis, then people suffering from those
diseases should have access to the drug.

Still, there is a right and a wrong way to accomplish anything. If you
believe marijuana should remain a controlled substance, then Question 2 is
the wrong way to go about providing marijuana to sick people. It would be
better if Mainers voted this proposal down and the Legislature took up a
more sensible bill giving sick Mainers access to the drug.

The problem with the proposed law behind Question 2 is the manner in which
patients would obtain marijuana if their doctors thought it would help.
Under the proposal, a doctor's note would exempt a person from prosecution
for possessing up to 1.25 ounces of dried marijuana or growing up to six
marijuana plants for personal use.

The law is silent about where someone would buy 1.25 ounces of dried
marijuana or the seeds required to grow six plants. Presumably they'd come
from dealers who, themselves, are breaking the law by possessing marijuana.

So, right away there's a problem. The law sets up a system of financial
support for a group of people - drug dealers - who are breaking the law.

Also, what will this law do for probable cause issues? If a police officer
spots six marijuana plants growing on a terrace, he would now have the
right to search that home for drugs. If some citizens are allowed to grow
marijuana legally, though, would spotting marijuana plants on a terrace
still give a police officer the same ability to search for drugs?

That's a matter for the courts to work out, but one can easily contrive a
case where a defense attorney would argue that the presence of six
marijuana plants is not, in itself, an indication that the law is being
broken. Hence, a search of the type described above could be thrown out,
and the job of police would be made a lot tougher.

Ideally, marijuana should be provided to patients by prescription. That
way, patients would get only the marijuana they need and distribution of
the drug could be controlled the same way we now control distribution of
morphine and other such substances.

Supporters of Question 2 point out, correctly, that a change in federal law
would be required to make marijuana available on a prescription basis. In
the meantime, there are plenty of Mainers who need this help.

True enough, but are many Mainers who need marijuana going without it?
Possession of pot is a relatively minor offense in Maine, a misdemeanor
carrying a fine. Moreover, it's hard to imagine a local police department
that would bother with a cancer patient who used marijuana or a judge who
would go along with pursuing such a person vigorously. Mainers are using
marijuana as medicine now.

Still, changing the law to make pot legal for medical purposes will serve a
purpose. Some people will turn this help down simply because it's illegal.
Doctors, meanwhile, aren't supposed to talk about the option with their
patients, and that's bad.

These issues can be addressed, however, as part of more sensible
legislation. It would be far better to supply patients who need marijuana
with pot confiscated by police departments. While some early court rulings
indicated such a system would run afoul of federal law, a recent federal
appeals court decision on a case out of California suggests otherwise.

Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has been a strong backer of states' rights
in recent years and is likely to be sympathetic to allowing states some
latitude on medical marijuana.

Maine people should reject Question 2 and then lobby the Legislature to
craft a good medical marijuana law. Such a law would recognize marijuana's
value as a medicine to some, but would create a system for supplying pot to
patients that would involve law enforcement, not hinder it.