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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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 Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns 
#12948793 - 07/25/10 02:22 AM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns
July 25, 2010 - seacoastonline.com
Catherine Cobb, director of licensing for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, remembers the morning of Nov. 4, 2009, the day after the residents of Maine passed a medical marijuana initiative by a vote of 58 percent to 41 percent.
"We didn't think it would pass," she said. "We hadn't had any discussions about what we would do. I didn't know anything about medical marijuana, but I am a very quick learner."
Two area police chiefs, while supportive of the overall intent of the new law, say they remain concerned with its rapid implementation and potential unintended negative impacts.
Indeed, in less than a year, a medical marijuana task force convened and filed a report, the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee crafted a detailed amendment to the bill passed in November and later signed into law, rules in DHHS were promulgated to govern day-to-day workings of the law, and just two weeks ago, the first medical marijuana dispensaries were named.
"I have lived and breathed this since November," Cobb said.
Maine has had a medical marijuana law on the books since 1999, but there was no legal mechanism for patients to procure the drug. They either had to grow it or buy it on the black market. The new law, which went into effect July 10, changes all of that.
First, the law stipulates with some specificity who qualifies to receive medical marijuana. Patients with cancer, glaucoma, positive status for an immunodeficiency virus, AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease and nail-patella syndrome qualify.
Medical marijuana can also be prescribed to treat wasting syndrome, severe nausea, seizures, and severe muscle spasms, and also to treat intractable pain, defined as pain that hasn't responded to medical or surgical procedures for more than six months.
The law requires a board to be formed to review additional conditions and diseases for inclusion in the law in the future.
Dispensaries, which were recently in the news locally because of applicants from South Berwick and Kittery, are permitted in eight districts, one per district. These are by law nonprofit organizations with a board of directors.
On July 10, dispensaries were named in six of eight districts. York County, comprising one district, did not have a successful applicant, and applications are now being accepted for a new round. Each dispensary pays an annual fee of $15,000 to the state.
According to Cobb, specifications for running a dispensary are stringent. The successful applicant had to prove it was a nonprofit, could adequately secure the office and the greenhouse growing area, would be in a location central to most patients, could assure an adequate supply, had sufficient experience in the field, had a stringent record-keeping system and had adequate staff well educated in the field.
The successful applicants had, for instance, excellent security measures for both the dispensaries and greenhouses, said Cobb, including a camera system, alarms on doors and windows, pass code protection and, in one case, 24/7 on-site security guards.
Still, Kittery Police Chief Ed Strong said the potential for crime is "worrying."
"By having only one dispensary in York County, there's going to have to be a massive amount of marijuana grown," he said. "I'm worried about these facilities. Hopefully the dispensaries will live up to the standards set by DHHS."
But a dispensary is just one of several means for patients to receive marijuana.
Patients themselves as well as their caregivers are eligible to apply to the state for an identification card that gives them the right to grow up to six marijuana plants and possess up to 2½ ounces. Caregivers can have up to five patients and are allowed that amount per patient.
As part of the application to receive a card, there has to be proof from a doctor identifying the qualifying condition, Cobb said. Unlike in other states with medical marijuana laws, Cobb said the doctor has to show a "bona fide" relationship with the patient. The expectation is that this will eliminate "doctor shopping," she said.
Caregivers can charge a "reasonable amount," according to the law, for the pot they cultivate. Patients buying pot either through a caregiver or a dispensary pay out of pocket, Cobb said. Health insurance does not cover the costs. It is anticipated the cost per ounce will be comparable with illegal ounces — $300 to $400 an ounce, Cobb said.
The identification card costs $100 annually for a patient or $75 for Medicare patients and $300 for caregivers per patient.
Between the fees for cards and dispensaries and all penalties and fees assessed for violations of the law, it is estimated that the state will bring in $250,000 a year, Cobb said. That money will pay for two employees and the continued computer database work that will need to be done. The Legislature loaned DHHS the money for the first year of operation, which must be returned by July 2011, she said.
Cobb said data from identification cards are being placed in a database that will soon be available to law enforcement personnel, so they will have the information in their work. That's a good thing, said York Police Chief Doug Bracy.
"That would negate one of my biggest concerns," he said. "We need to get that information in order to do our job, and identify who is in the registry and who isn't."
Bracy said he has over-arching concerns about the law and expects there will be abuses, just as there are now with prescription drugs.
"I don't see this as very different," he said. "If we can't control prescription drugs, my concern is, how are we going to control this?"
Bracy and Strong both said security is too lax for the caregiver and patient, unlike for the dispensary.
"There doesn't appear to be any security for the homegrown stuff," Strong said. "I'm worried about people growing it in their back yard or cellar. Sooner or later, kids will find out about it. What happens if the caregiver has kids in the house? I'm concerned for the possibility that a lot of the legal marijuana is going to come into the illegal trafficking mechanism."
Both chiefs say there is going to be a significant learning curve as this law is implemented, with kinks galore likely in need of working out. They said they're happy that people who can benefit from medical marijuana will get relief from their pain, and added they're going to have to hang in there to work it out.
"The law is something the voters of the state of Maine approved, and we want it to be honored," Bracy said. "I think everyone has done a fairly good job in the time that they've had. But I do see it could create some problems that are going to need to be worked out."
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 I AM SWIM
doin' thangs
Registered: 12/24/08
Posts: 9,695
Loc: Feels Changsta Man
Last seen: 2 days, 5 hours
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Re: Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns [Re: veggie]
#12949036 - 07/25/10 05:48 AM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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go weed, 
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Smawrpg
Urban Shaman
Registered: 08/23/09
Posts: 619
Last seen: 27 days, 13 hours
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Re: Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns [Re: veggie]
#12950646 - 07/25/10 01:26 PM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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why does everyone worry about it so much. Its not like maine is allowing residents to run meth labs, just grow a plant. Stupid police chiefs if they really cared about reducing crime than this shouldn't be a major issue...at all.
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funkyrobot
I'd rather not define
Registered: 05/06/09
Posts: 49
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns [Re: veggie]
#12952218 - 07/25/10 06:27 PM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
"There doesn't appear to be any security for the homegrown stuff," Strong said. "I'm worried about people growing it in their back yard or cellar. Sooner or later, kids will find out about it. What happens if the caregiver has kids in the house? I'm concerned for the possibility that a lot of the legal marijuana is going to come into the illegal trafficking mechanism."
"There doesn't appear to be any security for the homebrewed stuff," Strong said. "I'm worried about people brewing it in their attic or cellar. Sooner or later, kids will find out about it. What happens if the brewer has kids in the house? I'm concerned for the possibility that a lot of the legal alcohol is going to come into the illegal trafficking mechanism."
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You will never come out of the trip. Just face it!
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I AM SWIM
doin' thangs
Registered: 12/24/08
Posts: 9,695
Loc: Feels Changsta Man
Last seen: 2 days, 5 hours
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Re: Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns [Re: Smawrpg]
#12952335 - 07/25/10 06:49 PM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Smawrpg said:
why does everyone worry about it so much.
because the ppl that worry about thangs arent smokin weed 
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ShroomProphet
Grateful Dead to The Core
Registered: 08/04/09
Posts: 283
Loc: Shakedown Street. USA
Last seen: 1 day, 9 hours
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Re: Speedy implementation of medical pot law in Maine raises concerns [Re: I AM SWIM]
#12961103 - 07/27/10 11:03 AM (1 year, 9 months ago) |
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Im selling all my shit and moving to Cali im done waiting on Ohio to pass a Med cannabis law** i will have one foot and the grave and forgotten what Mary Jane is by the time it passes here..
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