cannabisnews.com: Control Medical Marijuana Control Medical Marijuana Posted by FoM on April 26, 2001 at 17:21:09 PT By Joseph L. Rogers Source: Bangor Daily News In 1999, a citizen’s initiative on medical marijuana was passed by the voters of Maine. Once enacted it allowed qualifying individuals suffering from a number of afflictions (cancer, glaucoma, HIV, to name a few) to grow, possess and use marijuana to help address the discomfort associated with the disease and/or treatment of the disease.The law provided for the qualifying individual or the caregiver for the qualifying individual to possess up to six marijuana plants, three mature and three immature plants. Also, the caregiver could be the caregiver for a number of qualifying individuals and could legally possess the corresponding number of marijuana plants.Without debating the public policy benefits or pitfalls of medical marijuana since the passage of the citizen’s initiative made such a debate moot, the conundrum is the distribution of the product. How do qualifying individuals obtain the product? What oversight is appropriate? Should there be any quality control? How can law enforcement continue their drug enforcement activities without infringing upon qualifying individuals’ ability to possess marijuana?A task force was formed more than a year ago to address the problem of distribution of medical marijuana. The group consisted of representatives of all interested factions in the medical marijuana debate: legislators, attorneys, law enforcement, advocates for medical marijuana and qualifying individuals. The task force was unable to reach consensus and disbanded.The distribution question needs to be resolved. The needs and well-being of qualified individuals and the needs of law enforcement in carrying out their mission to protect everyone within the state of Maine must be considered.Marijuana distribution centers have been mentioned as a possible solution and have been utilized in California. There is proposed legislation in Augusta that would allow distribution centers to operate in Maine. The alternative would be individual cultivation of marijuana that could allow hundreds of people to grow marijuana.Marijuana distribution centers would limit the number of outlets where qualified individuals could obtain the product. Limiting the number of outlets would make oversight much more effective and hopefully would limit opportunities for nonqualified people to obtain marijuana under the medical exemption.Users of medical marijuana would have a readily available source if the need arose to utilize the product. The product itself could be standardized and more uniform with a limited number of growers providing the product.State oversight of the medical marijuana distribution and cultivation process makes much more sense than allowing qualified individuals or caregivers to grow and distribute medical marijuana. Every other drug has state and/or federal oversight to some degree and so it should be with medical marijuana.One stumbling block in the state taking this position is the possibility of jeopardizing federal funding of our drug enforcement, education and treatment efforts. California, to date, has not forfeited any federal funding despite the fact that distribution centers are currently in operation.Advocating state of Maine oversight of medical marijuana distribution centers is not an abdication of our role in the enfor cement of drug laws. Federal funding is an important revenue source for carrying out drug enforcement and that funding must remain intact so that we may carry forward this mission.Medical marijuana is legal in Maine. We must decide what is the most efficient and effective way to control medical marijuana and have it distributed only to those who are legally entitled to obtain the substance.Joseph L. Rogers is the chief of police in Hampden. Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)Author: Joseph L. RogersPublished: April 26, 2001Copyright: 2001 Bangor Daily News Inc.Contact: bdnmail bangornews.infi.netWebsite: http://www.bangornews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Mainers For Medical Rightshttp://www.mainers.org/State's Medical Marijuana Plan Hits Snaghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9506.shtmlAIDS Patient Faces Trial in Rare Marijuana Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8530.shtmlMedicinal Marijuana Law Under Review http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6853.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by Dan B on April 26, 2001 at 23:33:50 PT: Shawn: You're right, there isn't much going on in the state of Florida, although there are two bills (one before the House, the other before the Senate--HJR 49 and HB 51) that are designed to give the right to vote back to felons who have served their time. These bills will be important because when marijuana users who get caught are again allowed the right to vote, they could very well tip the balance of power in favor of legalization.For more information on your state, visit the Marijuana Policy Project site for Florida: http://www.mpp.org/FLEveryone else, I encourage you to click the link below to visit the main MPP site and find out what is going on in your state.Dan B Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Shawn on April 26, 2001 at 21:42:21 PT: Florida I live in florida.Florida and marijuana go togather like steak and eggs.Yet theres nothing going on in this staten that i know of. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on April 26, 2001 at 21:22:49 PT: Here's One Way To Address the Issue . . . . . . make marijuana legal across the board for any use whatsoever. Here are the benefits:* Police would not have to make a distinction between medical use and recreational use.* Since marijuana laws do more damage than marijuana ever could, legalization would certainly insure a safer Maine for everyone.* It would really piss-off the feds. :O)* It would finally bring this issue to the forefront of the American agenda.* No worries about falsely arresting medical marijuana users!Sounds like a good plan to me.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: