This November, Maine voters will have the chance to make Maine's current medical marijuana law work. The law was first passed by voters back in 1999, but was not particularly well written. The result is that over the last ten years, only a handful of qualified Maine patients have been able to legally access their medicine.
Our organization, Maine Citizens for Patients Rights, filed our proposed ballot initiative with the Maine Secretary of State back in October of 2007, and then began the long process of collecting over 80,000 signatures from registered voters. In January of 2009 we turned in these signatures and received our notification a month later that enough of these signatures were valid to meet the threshold for a spot on the November ballot.
This route was not our first choice when we considered how to best address the lack of access for qualified medical marijuana patients. In fact two years ago we submitted similar legislation to the Maine Legislature. But we were met with indifference by most of the legislators and hostility by a few. We also faced the wrath of the usual enablers of bad drug policy; law enforcement, health officials, and administrators of substance abuse programs.
This did not change much a few days ago when our proposed ballot initiative wound its way through the committee on Health and Human Services (once the Secretary of State validates a ballot initiative, it gets sent through the legislature giving them the opportunity to pass the bill outright, but not allowing them to amend it or prevent it from going to the ballot in November). With the exception of Portland's Senator Brannigan, who repeatedly exposed serious flaws in the opposition's statements and logic, no elected official took the time to say anything in support.
If our proposed law passes in November, it will primarily address the issue of legal access to the medicine by allowing the creation of non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries. But it will also help clear up much of the ambiguity that exists in the current law by proving a voluntary card i.d. for qualified patients and providers, giving them immediate protection against law enforcement when/if they come knocking.
In addition the law will provide new protections for the doctor's who make the necessary recommendation, allowing more doctors to step forward publicly with their willingness to do so.
With the recent change in administrations at the Federal level, we have already seen significant movement forward on this issue. The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has stated publicly that it is now federal government policy to allow states to determine this issue. This combined with the US Supreme Courts recent refusal to hear a challenge to a lower court ruling that had been decided in favor of state's rights on this issue, means that the path is clear.
With close to 75% support on this issue here in state, we anticipate a quiet campaign with little opposition. Maine voters have already spoken loudly on this issue and we anticipate that after the vote in November, qualified patients will now have full access to their medicine and the necessary protections to utilize it.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Exception Magazine
Author: Jonathan Leavitt
Contact: The Exception Magazine
Copyright: 2009 Liberalati LLC RSS / Widgets
Website: The Case for Maine's Medical Marijuana Initiative
Our organization, Maine Citizens for Patients Rights, filed our proposed ballot initiative with the Maine Secretary of State back in October of 2007, and then began the long process of collecting over 80,000 signatures from registered voters. In January of 2009 we turned in these signatures and received our notification a month later that enough of these signatures were valid to meet the threshold for a spot on the November ballot.
This route was not our first choice when we considered how to best address the lack of access for qualified medical marijuana patients. In fact two years ago we submitted similar legislation to the Maine Legislature. But we were met with indifference by most of the legislators and hostility by a few. We also faced the wrath of the usual enablers of bad drug policy; law enforcement, health officials, and administrators of substance abuse programs.
This did not change much a few days ago when our proposed ballot initiative wound its way through the committee on Health and Human Services (once the Secretary of State validates a ballot initiative, it gets sent through the legislature giving them the opportunity to pass the bill outright, but not allowing them to amend it or prevent it from going to the ballot in November). With the exception of Portland's Senator Brannigan, who repeatedly exposed serious flaws in the opposition's statements and logic, no elected official took the time to say anything in support.
If our proposed law passes in November, it will primarily address the issue of legal access to the medicine by allowing the creation of non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries. But it will also help clear up much of the ambiguity that exists in the current law by proving a voluntary card i.d. for qualified patients and providers, giving them immediate protection against law enforcement when/if they come knocking.
In addition the law will provide new protections for the doctor's who make the necessary recommendation, allowing more doctors to step forward publicly with their willingness to do so.
With the recent change in administrations at the Federal level, we have already seen significant movement forward on this issue. The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has stated publicly that it is now federal government policy to allow states to determine this issue. This combined with the US Supreme Courts recent refusal to hear a challenge to a lower court ruling that had been decided in favor of state's rights on this issue, means that the path is clear.
With close to 75% support on this issue here in state, we anticipate a quiet campaign with little opposition. Maine voters have already spoken loudly on this issue and we anticipate that after the vote in November, qualified patients will now have full access to their medicine and the necessary protections to utilize it.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Exception Magazine
Author: Jonathan Leavitt
Contact: The Exception Magazine
Copyright: 2009 Liberalati LLC RSS / Widgets
Website: The Case for Maine's Medical Marijuana Initiative
