Maine Medical Marijuana

Last November, the citizens of Maine voted to approve the Maine Medical Marijuana Act.

After its passage, the governor created a task force to recommend changes to the law to make it most beneficial to Mainers.

In this special report on medical marijuana, we follow the recommendations submitted by the task force and the challenges they faced tweaking this abstract concept.

The Medical Marijuana Task Force is 14 appointed officials made up of legislators, patient advocates and the attorney general have been charged with outlining the medical marijuana law after the referendum was passed by Maine voters.

The Task Force met a total of five times and had three main objectives.

One was to look at marijuana laws in other states. 14 states have legalized medical marijuana. Maine is the fifth state to allow dispensaries, including New Mexico, which members of the force say they used as a template for Maine's law. New Mexico currently has about seven dispensaries in the state, though the task force decided not to predetermine a number for Maine.

The task force's second objective was to recommend changes to the law, mainly to ensure public health and safety and the constant monitoring of the medical marijuana program.

Lastly, the task force was charged to advise the department of health and human services in its development of proposed rules and fee schedules.

Where the law stands now, patients are allotted two and a half ounces of usable marijuana, and can grow six self serving plants.

Though the smoke hasn't cleared to see if medical marijuana will change the way life should be in Maine, on paper the regulations are outlined so legal medical marijuana despensaries could be open in Maine as early as June.

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It was said by some expert official on the news report that "the voters didn't really, really understand" what they were voting on. I am offended and all Mainers should be too! Same thing, by the same governor was done when we voted for racinos. I dont think the medicinal marijauna law that the voters passed should be altered.

I am extremely offended and I think all Mainers should be as well that members on the task force think that the Maine people are not intelligent enough to know what they are voting on. When volunteers went out to get signatures to get this on the ballot for the people's initative it was explained to people what this law meant. There were also plenty of educational gatherings throughout the state fo educate the Maine people on what the proposed new law was about. I personally went out and educated as many people as possible on this matter and incouraged people to educate themselves about medical marijuana and the current medical marijuana law and what the differences were with the new proposed law. I attended the task force meetings in Augusta and was extremely disappointed on how little compassion most of the members of the task force had for the patients. Task force members are allowing their personal feelings and their own ignorance about Medical Marijuana to interfere and delay what the Maine people voted for.

she was saying that Mainers can not read and comprehend like she can and they voted on something they had no idea about because they dont have the basic capabilities to do so so she and the other Ivey Leauge folks will dictate to you the way it should be understood vote this stupid chick out no indoctrination for me thankyou !! she was not very well versed and I Can Think and Vote and Read!