Slow Burn:

NEW MAINE MARIJUANA RULES WILL TAKE TIME TO IMPLEMENT

A task force has until the end of the month to recommend how Maine
should implement its new medical marijuana law, which calls for a
patient registry and dispensaries.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci convened the 14-member group to "implement
the will of the people" after nearly 60 percent of voters backed
Question 5 in November. He said the group will ensure there are
"appropriate safeguards in place to protect the public health and safety."

As soon as the votes were counted, state officials started hearing
from people "interested in getting or growing marijuana," said Lucky
Hollander, director of legislative relations at the Department of
Health and Human Services.

The group's recommendations are due by Dec. 31, and then the
Legislature will begin its review. Final rules are expected to be in
place in the spring.

Baldacci's executive order forming the task force directs members to
consider what's taken place in 13 other states that allow medical
marijuana, including the four -- Rhode Island, New Mexico, Colorado
and California -- that are dispensary states.

By supporting the change, voters backed a citizen initiative that
resuscitated a bill state lawmakers had rejected. The new law permits
people with "debilitating medical conditions," as diagnosed by a
physician licensed in Maine, to use medical marijuana if they get
written certification from the physician vouching for the drug's
therapeutic benefits.

The law also changes the description of the medical conditions that
warrant medical use of marijuana, including cancer, glaucoma, AIDS,
hepatitis C, Chron's disease and conditions that produce "intractable pain."

"With this new law, there are currently tens of thousands of those
qualified patients in the state of Maine," said Jonathan Leavitt,
Question 5's official proponent and coordinator with Maine Citizens
for Patients Rights.

Patients, upon registering with the state, would get an
identification card qualifying them to possess no more than 2 1/2
ounces of marijuana. Residents can receive the drug from a caregiver
who they are linked to in the registration process, or if needed,
possess up to six plants to obtain the drug themselves.

There will be nonprofit dispensaries, which will be able to "acquire,
possess, cultivate, manufacture, use, deliver, transfer or transport"
the drug without fear of prosecution. There is no limit to the number
of patients a dispensary can serve.

Allen St. Pierre, a native Mainer and executive director for the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said
dispensary operators, possibly including those already doing business
in other states, likely will look to locate to locales where "the
local mores and values" support the law and already attract retail businesses.

Josh Stanley, owner of the Denver-based Peace in Medicine Center, a
medicinal cannabis dispensary that also offers yoga and nutrition
classes, said he's reviewing Maine's law and gauging public opinion
to see if the state could serve as a good satellite location for his company.

"We're in the middle of looking at the legislative rulings in that
state," he said. "We want to work closely with legislators to see
what they want to see."

St. Pierre said local governing bodies also likely will be more
receptive than in the past since "today, across the country, baby
boomers are in control," and "they have a much different attitude
about marijuana than the prior generation."

Ethan Nadelmann of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance has said
dispensaries won't populate Maine like they do Los Angeles because of
stricter provisions here. In Maine, unlike California, all
dispensaries will need state licenses.

Until the new rules are finalized, however, it's unclear what form
the dispensaries will take or where they'll end up. The law, however,
allows communities to limit the number of dispensaries operating locally.

Maine's law also directs DHHS to establish application and renewal
fees that will cover administering the law. Leavitt said "revenue
from this new program should be paying for Maine's expansion of its
agricultural base."

At Tuesday's task force meeting, the confidentiality of those who
participate was at issue. The panel opposes making the names public
on the Internet or elsewhere, but members agreed the names would be
made available to police in a "silent registry" if needed as part of
an investigation.

Ten years ago, voters approved a medical marijuana program that let
them possess the drug, but the measure didn't address how the public
could legally access it.

Under the new law, "eligible patients must have documents and part of
it includes information that a physician has reviewed the use of
medical marijuana and that the physician feels that it might or may
provide therapeutic value," said Bill Savage, senior assistant
attorney general.

Still, it's not expected the state's doctors will universally adopt the option.

"I think that doctors, just like the population at large, are going
to have widely divergent views about this," said Andy MacLean, the
deputy executive vice president at the Maine Medical Association.

The association hasn't taken a position on the law but is willing to
aid in its implementation and ensure doctors are aware of certain
concerns, including potential liability issues, MacLean said.

"We are talking about an unregulated substance that may have
impurities in it," he said.

The law doesn't require doctors to recommend medial marijuana use,
MacLean said.

Sanford physician Bill Chernin agreed that opinion among doctors
varies but thinks "most of us are fairly open-minded," so long as use
of medical marijuana proves beneficial to the patient and the drug
doesn't make its way "to another segment of the population."

He said he's had patients who say they smoke marijuana at night to
help them sleep or to perk their appetite or decrease anxiety.

"For some of them it does do the trick and maybe what I have to offer
is no better and may be more dangerous," he said. "I think we all
recommend marijuana use in excess can have its downfalls as well."

The law before the task force also says someone visiting Maine can
use medical marijuana if they have a registration card or its
equivalent from another state. But Savage said other states' laws
will apply should a user from Maine be in another state.