DOCTORS OPPOSE BALLOT MEASURE TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Maine Medical Association has lined up in opposition to the medical use
of marijuana. At its annual meeting, the association's House of Delegates
voted Friday against a November ballot initiative that would allow patients
with some illnesses to grow and use small amounts of the drug.

Nearly 100 people voted by show of hands, and the resolution opposing the
measure was approved handily.

The doctors said the measure required more study, and they expressed
concern about lack of standardized preparation and sources of the marijuana.

''It was an easy decision ... when considered on its scientific merits,''
said Dr. Katherine Stoddard Pope, a Portland anesthesiologist who led a
committee that proposed the opposition statement.

Dr. John Garofalo, a family physician based in Augusta, helped write the
statement opposing the initiative. He called marijuana a ''gateway drug''
that can lead to use of harder drugs. In addition, doctors would have no
way to ensure a home-grown plant's potency or purity, he said.

Activists collected enough signatures to force the November vote on medical
use of marijuana. If the measure is passed, Maine would become the sixth
state to legalize the drug for such purposes.

The question going before voters in November asks whether Mainers should be
allowed to possess ''a usable amount of marijuana for medical use'' if a
doctor can document that a grower has any of several illnesses or if a
doctor believes it would help a patient.

The proposed law defines a usable amount as 1.25 ounces of harvested
marijuana and up to six marijuana plants, no more than three of which may
be mature, flowering plants.

The list of qualifying ailments includes persistent nausea, vomiting, loss
of appetite from AIDS or cancer treatments, glaucoma and seizures or muscle
spasms from chronic diseases, such as epilepsy or multiple sclerosis.