Medical Marijuana: Maine Legislature Punts, Bill Will Go Before Voters in November
Maine voters passed a medical marijuana law a decade ago, but it has proven largely unworkable. Now, after the legislature failed to act on a citizen petition to fix it, voters will get a chance to fix it themselves in November.
California medical marijuana bags (courtesy Daniel Argo via Wikimedia)
According to the bill summary, the bill: "Directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue registry identification cards to patients who qualify to possess marijuana for medical use and to their designated primary caregivers. It sets limits on the amount of marijuana that may be possessed by qualifying patients and their designated primary caregivers. It allows the establishment of nonprofit dispensaries to provide marijuana to qualifying patients and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a registration certificate to a nonprofit dispensary that meets certain criteria. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish application and renewal fees sufficient to pay the expenses of implementing and administering the provisions of the initiated bill."
Maine's current medical marijuana law only allows patients to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces and grow six plants. That isn't working, said proponents.
"The reality is that patients are not equipped to do that," the group's Jonathan Leavitt told the legislature's Health and Human Services Committee Monday. "And landlords and people that own property are hesitant because of the law enforcement issues to allow that. So essentially, people access it through the black market. There is essentially no legal way to buy it," he said.
During the Monday hearing, the bill was opposed by the usual suspects in law enforcement and the medical establishment. That may have been enough to scare off legislators, but Maine voters demonstrated a decade ago they were willing to embrace the medicinal use of marijuana. Now, they will have the chance to do so again.
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Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 4:43pm99% of all politicians everywhere lack the spine to do the right thing. The only way to get legislation passed is to make the legislators think opposing it will hurt them.
Non-profit drugs? No way say the pharmaceutical houses.
Comment posted by CommanderScott13 on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 5:36pmThe only real resistance to legalizing hemp products is coming from, in my opinion, an industry which generates billions of dollars in profits every year, and whose stock is widely held. An industry such as this has far more clout with legislatures than any law enforcement agency, because it has huge amounts of money at its disposal, as well as numbers of experienced, successful lobbyists. Now, what industry with those qualifications is threatened by the legalization of hemp?
It has been so long since cannabis products were used medicinally that many people have forgotten the wide variety of ailments which were successfully treated with cannabis products, ailments as diverse as tooth ache and menstrual cramps. When used properly, cannabis is a powerful pain killer, without narcotic effects. A drug as potent as marijuana threatens billions of dollars in profits in the pharmaceutical industry, potentially affecting the sales of everything from aspirin to anti-depressants.
The pharmaceutical industry has so far managed to keep charging Americans the highest prices for their drugs of any country in the world. A price beyond calculation is the cost of the prohibition of hemp products, which is motivated, in my opinion, by greed, just as it was when hemp was first outlawed. The greed of companies who are more than happy to see people on drugs, as long as they are drugs that the companies make.
Remove those legislators
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 2:02pmLegislators who don't have the spine to back the will of the people who elected them need to go.