cannabisnews.com: Maine Panel Split on Marijuana Distribution Report





Maine Panel Split on Marijuana Distribution Report
Posted by FoM on September 28, 2000 at 10:52:03 PT
By Michael O’D. Moore, Of the NEWS Staff
Source: Bangor Daily News
 A task force assembled by the Attorney General’s Office to provide the Legislature with recommendations on how to distribute marijuana for medical purposes ended its last regular meeting in conflict rather than consensus Wednesday.The 29-member task force was sharply divided over a report outlining its work since May, and its members made no concrete recommendations. Lawmakers and others had looked to the group for guidance on how to reconcile Maine’s law legalizing marijuana for medical use with federal laws that make marijuana illegal.
Several members present for the meeting said the report, written by Assistant Attorney General James M. Cameron, didn’t clearly indicate that task force members agreed on some proposals.“I don’t think the report … goes far enough in terms of providing something to the committees that’s very meaningful,’’ said task force member Rep. Thomas Kane ,D-Saco, co-chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. He said he didn’t like the task force adjourning without offering legislators more guidance.Rep. Daniel Williams, D-Orono, said that judging from several comments from fellow task force members, more work could have been done before a vote was taken on the final report.But task force chair Rep. Edward Povich, D-Ellsworth, said that was not necessary.“There’s nothing new that’s going to come that’s going to require a formal vote,” Povich said. Instead, he said those voting against the report had three weeks to compile a separate report. Most of Wednesday’s meeting focused on how such a report would be approved with no more regular meetings scheduled. Those seeking a more complete report said they would meet to discuss an alternative.After the meeting, Mainers for Medical Rights, which spearheaded the 1998 referendum item, charged in a press release that the process had been skewed by the Attorney General’s Office to minimize the views of medical marijuana patients and advocates. Attorney General Andrew Ketterer has been an outspoken opponent of any distribution of marijuana that would conflict with federal law.During the meeting, Cameron said he just wanted the report to reflect that there was disagreement.The report reviews the history of the 1998 referendum and subsequent proposals in the Legislature to clarify how the ill can get marijuana. One of the proposals in late winter would have put the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in the role of supplier of a scheduled drug. That proposal was transformed into the bill that put several members of the Health and Human Services Committee on the Attorney General’s task force.“The task force was unable to reach a consensus on the best way to implement the Medical Marijuana Act of 1998,” the report stated. “Three major approaches were considered and brought to a vote among the members. All three received significant but less than unanimous support.”One proposal called for the creation of a state-sponsored clinical research program to study the active ingredients of marijuana. Under the program, marijuana could be supplied legally under federal law to patients. Only four task force members opposed this approach with the other voting members supporting the concept. Of those in favor, 12 said they would support it with an amendment eliminating the preference for research on nonsmoking methods of ingesting the ingredients.A proposal that split the task force down the middle was a bill to establish a medical marijuana patient registry. It also would allow a registered, qualified patient to furnish marijuana to one other registered, qualified marijuana patient.The third proposal was to create a pilot program for a single nonprofit center to sell marijuana to registered patients. The center would be similar to a cooperative run in California except that it would not necessarily be run by patients.Sixteen members supported this concept while 11 were in opposition.In the executive summary, Cameron wrote that the idea for the centers was put to the test in California courts this summer. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction against the Oakland Cannabis Club, shutting down the operation pending appeals. The decision is viewed as indicating that the Supreme Court may side with federal law enforcers in shutting down such clubs, the report states.Kandyce A. Powell, executive director of Maine Hospice, said she worries that the “incredible thoughtfulness” that had been part of some of the meetings was lost in the report, which she said was ushered through Wednesday in a disappointing manner.“It’s not that there’s such a chasm in opinions here,’’ she said. “It’s more a question of how much of the comprehensiveness went into this.”Maine Medical Association executive director Gordon Smith said the process hadn’t changed his organization’s opposition to the use of marijuana for medical purposes. He said he would like to see what the report from the dissenters looks like. But he didn’t think the process needs to be extended.“Frankly, the task force has essentially done what it needs to,” he said. The challenge is finding ways to implement the referendum-generated law when it basically conflicts with federal law. Until the federal law changes, that problem is unlikely to disappear, he said. Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)Author: Michael O’D. Moore, Of the NEWS StaffContact: bdnmail bangornews.infi.netPublished: Thursday, September 28, 2000©2000 Bangor Daily News. Web Site: http://www.bangornews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Mainers For Medical Rights: http://www.mainers.org/Task Force: Distribute Marijuana: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7180.shtmlPanel Split as Final Distribution Report Issued: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7176.shtmlMedicinal Marijuana Law Under Review: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6853.shtmlNext on MMJ: How To Set Up the Program: http://cannabisnews.com/news/3/thread3555.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives: http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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