Maine Nov. 3 Referendum

MEDICINAL POT DISPENSARIES ON BALLOT

PORTLAND, Maine -- A decade ago, Maine voters overwhelmingly approved
a referendum allowing people to legally possess marijuana for
medicinal purposes. On Nov. 3, voters will decide whether to allow
dispensaries from which the drug could be distributed to patients.

Under the current law, doctors in Maine can recommend pot to patients
with certain debilitating conditions such as glaucoma, cancer and
AIDS. But many of those patients don't have a legal way to obtain
marijuana, said Jonathan Leavitt, coordinator of the Maine Citizens
for Patients' Rights, which is spearheading the referendum.

"This is what was lacking in the last law," Leavitt said.

But Question 5 on the ballot is drawing opposition from law
enforcement and drug prevention officials.

Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, said
setting up a distribution network would only increase the
availability of marijuana to people not authorized to have it.
Compounding the matter, he said, is the lack of control over the
dosage and potency of the pot that's being distributed.

"We have tremendous compassion for people with terminal illnesses who
are seeking to use this as alternative medication," Cousins said.
"The concern is a larger public safety and public health issue."

In 1999, Mainers by a 61-39 percent margin approved a referendum to
legalize the medical use of marijuana. Maine is one of 14 states with
medical marijuana laws on the books.

In Maine, people are allowed to possess up to 2-1/2 ounces of
marijuana and up to six marijuana plants if a doctor recommends that
it would help with their sickness. But most patients don't grow their
own plants, forcing them to get the drug illegally from dealers or
other patients, said 31-year-old Seamus Maguire, a medical-marijuana
user from Portland who suffers from a rare form of lymphoma.

The new law will give sick people a legal and convenient way to buy
marijuana, Maguire said.

"It's horrible that people that need it as medicine are unable to get
it without worrying about going to jail," Maguire said.

If the referendum is approved, dispensaries would have to operate as
nonprofits and couldn't be within 500 feet of schools. They would be
regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

They might operate in storefronts, in office parks or under the roofs
of existing nonprofit organizations that already provide care for
sick people, Leavitt said.

Besides allowing for dispensaries, Question 5 would create voluntary
ID cards for people who are allowed to legally possess marijuana and
expand the medical conditions under which people could be prescribed the herb.

The law now allows doctors to recommend marijuana for people who have
persistent nausea, vomiting, wasting syndrome or loss of appetite
because of AIDS or chemotherapy or radiation treatment used for
cancer; who have heightened pressure on their eyes because of
glaucoma; who have epileptic seizures; or who have persistent muscle
spasms from a disease such as multiple sclerosis.

The new law would expand the availability of marijuana to people to
other conditions, including hepatitis C, Lou Gehrig's disease,
Crohn's disease and Alzheimer's.

The Maine Chiefs of Police Association voted 32-0 at a recent board
meeting to oppose the law, said Executive Director Robert Schwartz.

Law officers are concerned the referendum, as currently written, does
not provide the state enough control over who could dispense
marijuana and where it could be distributed, he said. Marijuana
dispensaries, he said, should be subject to the same strict controls
as pharmacies.

"It just appears there are a lot of issues we aren't prepared to deal
with at this point," Schwartz said.

Schwartz said Maine police are keeping an eye on California, which
has thousands of pot dispensaries, many that advertise freely and
offer daily specials and discount coupons.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles, which has more than 800 marijuana
dispensaries, have vowed to crack down on stores that are selling to
people who don't qualify for medicinal marijuana.