HOUSE APPROVES MARIJUANA-DISPENSARY BILL

AUGUSTA -- The medical marijuana bill that will set up a dispensary
and registration system in Maine received final House passage
Monday, setting the stage for the next phase of work before
dispensaries can open.

After a short debate, the House voted 128-17 in favor of the bill,
which implements an expansion of the existing medical marijuana law.
In a November 2009 referendum, 59 percent of voters supported
allowing nonprofit dispensaries to open across the state.

Although passage of the bill virtually was assured Monday, the House
debate featured passionate testimony on both sides.

Rep. Sally Lewin, R-Eliot, said she worries that, because marijuana
is illegal on the federal level, the state should not expand access
to it by setting up a dispensary system.

"In my judgment, this is a bill to legalize marijuana use," she
said. "I believe it's rather like Swiss cheese, full of holes."

However, Rep. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, shared a personal story
about her daughter's battle with cancer and how much marijuana
helped her cope with the nausea caused by intensive chemotherapy.

"There are real people out there for whom this herb has been a
valuable resource," she said.

Last year, medical-marijuana advocates said that while Maine was one
of 14 states to allow the use of medicinal marijuana with a doctor's
permission, it was difficult for many people to get it legally. The
law passed in 1999 allowed patients to grow it themselves or to
designate someone to grow it for them.

Advocates said that left people no option but to buy it on the black
market. After a successful signature drive and a low-key campaign,
Maine voters supported an overhaul to the law that allows Maine to
create a dispensary system.

The bill to implement the new system makes several changes to the
measure approved by voters.

It limits, at least for the first year, the number of dispensaries
to eight across the state.

It gives the state Department of Health and Human Services until
July 1 to adopt rules establishing application and renewal fees for
patients, care givers and dispensaries. Dispensary fees will be set
by the department, but the bill requires the fee be no less than
$5,000 and no greater than $15,000 per year.

It allows marijuana to be sold to patients in food and "other preparations."

Also, it eventually will require all medical-marijuana patients to
register with the state -- a system that was voluntary in the
original citizen initiative. All patients will be required to
register with the state by January 2011.

That change concerns the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which believes
it violates patient-doctor privacy.

"Cancer and AIDS patients using medical marijuana for months or
years will now have to register with the state or risk prosecution,"
Maine Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Shenna Bellows said.
"It should be voluntary for patients, especially when state law
conflicts with federal law."

Kathy Bubar, who served on the medical-marijuana task force last
winter, said the biggest challenge for the state will be setting
guidelines for determining which dispensaries are allowed to open in
the first year.

"We've had a ton of inquiries," she said.

Yet the bill allows only eight -- one in each health district
throughout the state.

That means heavily populated areas such as York and Cumberland
counties will get only one per county. A large geographical area
such as central Maine -- which is defined as Kennebec and Somerset
counties --also will be allowed only one dispensary.

After the first year, the department plans to review the performance
of the dispensaries and decide whether to let additional ones open,
Bubar said.

Rep. Michael Celli, R-Brewer, voted to support the final measure but
said there are many parts of the bill that will have to be changed
in the years to come.

"I do feel sorry for anyone on the health and human services
(committee) for the next 50 years," he said. "They are going to get
this bill back time after time after time."