PORTLAND MAY BAN POT SHOPS FOR SIX MONTHS

The City Council will hold a public hearing June 21 before deciding
whether to adopt a moratorium.

PORTLAND - Portland may soon become one of dozens of Maine
communities to temporarily ban medical marijuana dispensaries slated
to open around the state later this year.

But when it comes to getting marijuana into the hands of suffering
patients, advocates say Maine's largest city is the last place where
local officials should stand in the way.

"Portland is really a service center. It's a place where people have
access to public transportation in a state with very little public
transportation," said Alysia Melnick, an attorney with the Maine
Civil Liberties Union. "That makes it even more important that
Portland not put up barriers to access."

Portland's City Council plans to hold a public hearing on June 21
before deciding whether to adopt a six-month moratorium. It's
already clear the high stakes of Portland's decision will bring out
strong opposition.

Maine's Department of Health and Human Services plans to select the
operators of the state's first eight dispensaries by July 9. The
not-for-profit suppliers could open shop within weeks of getting a
license, depending partly on how quickly they could grow
and process the drug and set up the security and tracking systems
required by the state. Each dispensary will be in a different
region, and there will be one each in York County and Cumberland County.

Portland's ban would provide time to write new city rules for
operating and siting a dispensary, just as other communities have
done, according to the city attorney. "There's all sorts of control
mechanisms that might be appropriate," said Gary Wood.

While Portland officials have not yet discussed such rules, other
communities have created zoning guidelines and setbacks from
schools, among other things.

Wood said he prepared the moratorium language so councilors could
consider the need for rules, not because anyone wants to keep
medical marijuana out of the city. Officials have already heard from
potential dispensary operators and others worried about the effects
of the ban, however

"City staff is going to meet with some proponents to make sure the
moratorium doesn't unintentionally interfere with their ability to
apply for the dispensary license," Wood said. "I am aware and the
council is aware, too, of the very legitimate design and purpose of
the law" to help ill and disabled patients. "We're going to keep
their best interests and concerns right at the forefront of the discussion."

The moratorium would probably not last the full six months because
rules and siting standards could be completed sooner, according to
Wood. He said he waited longer than other communities to draft the
moratorium because he first wanted to see the state's proposed
rules, which were made public last month.

State rules for dispensaries already include a 500-foot setback from
schools, security standards and criminal background checks, among
other things. Dispensaries can grow the marijuana on site or at
separate locations under similar rules.

It makes perfect sense for Portland and other communities to
consider their own additional operating and siting standards,
according to medical marijuana advocates. But, they said, there's no
need to delay the opening of what will likely be the state's
largest dispensary.

"We don't oppose the idea that businesses might fall under specific
zoning provisions. But we don't think a six-month moratorium is the
way to go about doing that," Melnick said. "For us, it's about
access and the ability to get dispensaries up and running. We
believe that the proposed moratorium endangers patient health."

Brendan McGann of South Portland is director of the Maine Wellness
Group, which hopes to operate a dispensary in Portland. The group's
application will include several alternative sites, in part because
of the uncertainty about future guidelines in the city.

But, McGann said, it is really the patients who will suffer if
Portland delays the opening of a dispensary here. "It isn't a
moratorium on dispensaries. It's a moratorium on health care for
sick people," he said.

As a care provider under Maine's established laws, McGann already
grows marijuana for as many as five patients and said he has seen it
save lives, such as by making it possible for MS or cancer patients
to eat food and maintain their strength.

Some would-be dispensary operators see Portland as "the golden
goose" of Maine's medical marijuana program because of the potential
market here, McGann said. Having helped patients with chronic pain
or with terminal illnesses, he said, he sees a city-based dispensary
as the best way to help tens of thousands of disabled and ill Mainers.

"This is the place it should be because that's where the people who
need the help are."

[sidebar]

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN MAINE

MEDICAL MARIJUANA patients in Maine must have a doctor's
recommendation and suffer from a list of conditions, including
cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Nail-patella
syndrome, wasting syndrome, severe nausea, epilepsy and other seizure
disorders, severe and persistent muscle spasms such as from MS or
other conditions approved by the commissioner of Maine's Department
of Health and Human Services.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about medical marijuana in Maine, go to
maine.gov/dhhs/dlrs/

SYSTEM FOR MEDICAL PO(br)TO ROLLED OUT IN STAGES

MAINE'S NEW medical marijuana law sets up a network of eight
not-for-profit dispensaries that will be licensed and regulated by
the state. It also requires patients who qualify for access under the
law to register with the state. PATIENTS AND caregivers can continue
to grow their own medicine as they do under the previous law.

HERE IS HOW the new system will be rolled out:

JUNE 25 - Applications are due from those who want to operate the dispensaries.

JULY 9 - The Maine Department of Health and Human Services plans to
name the selected operators, which could open for business by fall.

JAN. 1 - Medical marijuana patients who now need only a doctor's
recommendation will have to be registered with the state to use the
drug legally.