cannabisnews.com: Panel Seeking Ways To Clarify Pot Proposal
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Panel Seeking Ways To Clarify Pot Proposal
Posted by CN Staff on March 11, 2010 at 19:27:01 PT
By Mal Leary, Capitol News Service
Source: Bangor Daily News 
Augusta, Maine --  Nearly everyone who testified Thursday on legislation designed to fine-tune a voter-approved expansion of the state’s 10-year-old medical marijuana law wanted to see changes in the bill.“We simply ask that you respect the work that came before you and the will of the voters that was passed in both 1999 and last November,” said Jonathan Leavitt, executive director of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative, the group that put the expansion to the voters last year. “Make this happen and make it happen soon.”
The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee took testimony on a task force bill that summarizes the work of the 14-member Maine Medical Marijuana Task Force. The group scrutinized the initiated legislation voters authorized in November.“Most of the proposed changes simply clarify language and make changes to make the language consistent with other parts of state law,” said Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey, chairwoman of the task force. “There are a few areas where consensus was not reached.”The bill broadens the list of the medical conditions under the existing medical marijuana law, sets up a process for ID cards for users, establishes a method of licensing dispensaries for the drug, and sets parameters on growing the plant for personal medical use.Several amendments were suggested at the hearing, and many immediately drew opposition from others at the public hearing.One proposed by Rep. Ann Haskell, D-Portland, a member of the task force, drew most concern.The original law allows a person to grow and possess plants for personal use and it allows someone to grow pot for the patient. Haskell wants cultivation limited to one or two commercial farms to provide the scale of operation to assure there is enough marijuana available when a patient needs it and to lessen illegal diversion of the plant.“There has to be volume and diversity of product available to take care of theses patients,” she said. “The wholesale growing proposal will solve that problem.”Ron Norton of Harpswell said that proposal indicates a misunderstanding of how Mainers are helping other Mainers already to use marijuana under the 1999 law. He said family members and friends are growing the pot to help a person cope with a serious, often debilitating disease out of compassion, not for profit.“Commercial growers do not want to provide service to patients because they don’t stand to make a profit,” he said. “Believe me, there is a big difference between commercial growers and medical marijuana providers.”Gordon Smith, vice president of the Maine Medical Association, served on the task force and told lawmakers his group wants changes in the measure. He said there are no medical studies that show marijuana is useful in treating children, so the medical association wants to limit use to those over 12.“The psychiatric association feels very strongly that that marijuana use by adolescents presents a health risk to those children,” he said.Smith told lawmakers that some doctors believe marijuana is useful in treating some patients. He noted that the medical association took no position on the referendum last fall — while a decade ago the group opposed the original medical marijuana referendum,One of the law’s most significant changes was its inclusion of dispensaries to provide the drug to ease pain in people with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other diseases.Those sections of the measure dealing with oversight of those dispensaries — as well as those who grow the drug — drew sharp opposition from the Maine Civil Liberties Union and others.The measure allows the state to inspect and monitor both patients and caregivers that grow marijuana on 24 hours’ notice and no notice is needed to inspect a dispensary.“The 1999 law had no such provision, and there is no evidence this created a problem that needed to be fixed,” said Alisha Melnick of the Maine Civil Liberties Union. “Whatever issues these assessments seek to address, there is certainly no evidence that they rise to the level warranting unprovoked government invasion of per-sonal privacy.”She told the panel there are several areas of the bill that need amending to bring it into line with the intent of the voters.But others testified the measure should not interfere with the will of the voters at the local level.Rep. Michael Celli, R-Brewer, told the panel that local communities should decide the fate of dispensaries. Several municipalities have adopted moratoria on siting dispensaries. Under the proposed bill communities could determine where a dispensary could be located, but they would not be allowed to ban them.“I would strongly suggest we put some local control into this measure,” he said.The committee plans to start work on drafting a final bill next week.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)Author: Mal Leary, Capitol News ServicePublished: March 12, 2010Copyright: 2010 Bangor Daily News Inc.Website: http://www.bangornews.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/p8VPwI3NContact: http://drugsense.org/url/MWLhV21WCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by Storm Crow on March 12, 2010 at 09:54:27 PT
BS!!!
"Gordon Smith, vice president of the Maine Medical Association, served on the task force and told lawmakers his group wants changes in the measure. He said there are no medical studies that show marijuana is useful in treating children, so the medical association wants to limit use to those over 12."Then what the "F" do I have in my, now, FOUR page long section of links from my list called "Children/Young Adults"? It ISN'T that hard to run a search at PubMed- he could have found the studies on his own, just like I have! Now I gotta go and dig up this idiot's addy so I can email him and educate him! He's getting a copy of my list today- so if he repeats this statement, somebody call him on it! ! (If you want your own free copy of hundreds of MMJ studies, go to- i.wantgrannyslist(at)greenpassion.org ) 
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on March 11, 2010 at 22:25:18 PT
this bill
btw, this bill is the worst assault on a voter-passed state medical MJ law ever in the US, if I'm not mistaken.It's unbelievable, a few years ago they were voting to expand the amount of medicine patients can have, now they want the right to police inspection? that's like turning every patient's house into a prison cell. It's like leapfrogging ahead a decade or two - they're revealing their long-term plan, to merge Public Health with Public Safety for the ultimate police state. The cops will drop by every morning to make sure you take your medicine.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on March 11, 2010 at 22:22:12 PT
stay off my turf!!!
>>>Gordon Smith, vice president of the Maine Medical Association, served on the task force and told lawmakers his group wants changes in the measure. He said there are no medical studies that show marijuana is useful in treating children, so the medical association wants to limit use to those over 12.“The psychiatric association feels very strongly that that marijuana use by adolescents presents a health risk to those children,” he said.There they go again - fighting like an angry dog to protect their exclusive small-children market share. Millions of American kids take Prozac and Ritalin every day, and many more take even stronger psychotropic drugs. 
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Comment #1 posted by John Tyler on March 11, 2010 at 21:04:33 PT
off topic
I just got finished watching Michael Moore’s movie “Capitalism: a love story”. Check it out if you get the chance. It is an eye opener about how corporations took control of America in the last 30 years and robbed it blind. This explains how, after working thirty plus years, you and your family ended up worse off than when you started out.
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