cannabisnews.com: Editorial: Maine's Medicinal Marijuana Loophole Editorial: Maine's Medicinal Marijuana Loophole Posted by FoM on March 21, 2000 at 21:06:31 PT Staff Editorial Michigan Daily U. Michigan Source: U-WIRE A sheriff in Maine has proposed to that state's legislature that marijuana confiscated by police departments be distributed to people in need of it for medicinal purposes. This proposal is a step in the right direction to ensure that Americans afflicted with painful illnesses can get the pain relief they need. Numerous states, including Maine, have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Unfortunately, federal laws still prohibit anyone from obtaining the drug, regardless of their intentions. Having marijuana distributed via the police would prevent patients from being forced to break laws by buying it on the streets. In Maine, patients' only means of obtaining the drug is by growing it themselves. Marijuana is used to treat numerous illnesses because it effectively relieves pain while dulling some side effect of other treatments, such as the nausea commonly brought on by chemotherapy. All states that have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana are faced with the same dilemma: How do their ill go about acquiring the drug? While states can add amendments to their own drug laws in order to allow patients to buy marijuana, federal law nonetheless labels these pain-stricken citizens as criminals. This is because marijuana is a charged word. Users of medical marijuana are being incarcerated because they choose a natural substance loaded with negative connotations. citizens the right to consider a natural and healing substance on their own terms, but given them lengthy prison terms and heavy fines as punishment. The power of citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own health and well-being has been denied, even in areas where the plant has been legalized for medical reasons. If passed, this proposal will put all confiscated marijuana in the control of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, which will then in turn give doctors the authority to prescribe and distribute it. All Maine residents who use the drug legally will be officially registered with the state so they may be exempt from Maine's drug laws. Opposition to the bill claims that because the marijuana would have been confiscated off the streets, there is no way to ensure its purity. The risk of the drug being laced is actually no more severe for the patient as they would have otherwise obtained it directly off the streets. However, Sheriff Mark Dion, the proposal's creator, has suggested a means of guaranteeing the drug is not contaminated: Only distribute confiscated plants, not the dried seeds. This bill is a necessary step in helping patients get the medical pain relief they need. Current Maine law exempts its ill residents from drug possession laws, yet goes on to force them to supply their own drugs. Growing marijuana is a difficult and lengthy process and many patients have neither the time nor resources to do so. Marijuana plants take months before becoming usable, making it unreasonable for lawmakers to expect a patient to be able to sit idly in pain while waiting for their plant to finish growing. This bill recognizes the absurdity of asking patients to grow their own marijuana and provides an effective solution. Unfortunately, while more states are legalizing marijuana for medicinal uses everyday, they remain unable to circumvent federal drug laws. Unless the federal government recognizes that Americans want their pain-stricken family members to have an effective drug treatment, bills such as the latest proposal in Maine will never be fully successful. Some of Maine's legislators worry that by passing this bill the state will lose valuable federal funding. But the state should not let the federal government bully them simply because we they are treating their sick. (U-WIRE) Ann Arbor, Mich. Updated 12:00 PM ET March 21, 2000(C) 2000 Michigan Daily via U-WIRE Copyright © 1995-2000 Excite Inc. 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