Maine Votes to Okay Medical Marijuana Dispensaries; Measure Passing With 60% of the Vote
Voters in Maine Tuesday approved Question 5, which will allow the state to license nonprofit organizations to operate medical marijuana dispensaries for qualified patients. In early returns with nearly half the vote tallied, the measure was winning easily, with 60% of the vote.
Maine thus becomes the third state to create a system of state-licensed dispensaries, and the first one to do so by a direct vote. Only Rhode Island and New Mexico have similar dispensary provisions.
"This is a dramatic step forward, the first time that any state’s voters have authorized the state government to license medical marijuana dispensaries," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, DC, which drafted the initiative and provided start-up funding for the campaign. "Coming a decade after passage of Maine’s original marijuana law, this is a huge sign that voters are comfortable with these laws, and also a sign that the recent change of policy from the Obama administration is having a major impact."
MPP local affiliate Maine Citizens for Patients' Rights led the fight on the ground.
Question 5 also expands the list of medical conditions qualifying for protection under Maine’s law to include several conditions that are included in most other medical marijuana states, including intractable pain, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ("Lou Gehrig’s disease").
Look for a feature article on the Maine victory and the push for state-licensed dispensaries in the Chronicle on Friday.
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redditDissention within the ranks
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 1:06pmI'm glad that Maine voted for common sense on the marijuana issue and I'm sad they voted to continue discrimination against gays.But I am seeing a little resentment from gays directed at the wrong people.I was watching Rachel Maddow's reporting on election results and it seems she resents marijuana reformers because gay marriage opponents were victorious.Today I saw this story posted on the internet.As far as I have heard many gays also use marijuana and many are probably supporters of marijuana reform.The resentment towards the reform movement by some gays hurts both movements,we should work together to further both our causes instead of pointing fingers in the wrong direction.
http://latestweirdnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/maine-says-no-to-same-sex-ma...
It's Ironic
Comment posted by Carol on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 7:52amThat the vote to repeal gay marriage helped pass the marijuana dispensaries law-by distracting the usual suspects long enough not to focus on the danger of the pot. The loss of one freedom that helps bring about another. He's hoping the usual alliance of moralists and prohibitionists remain distracted long enough for progress to be made state by state.on pot, and when that war's won, here's hoping that pot expands enough minds so that they see gay people as deserving of all of the same rights as straights.