Augusta - Lawmakers in Augusta are eyeing some changes to Maine's medical marijuana law. The bill's sponsor says the changes would help protect the privacy of patients and caregivers.

In 2009 voters approved the use of medical marijuana in Maine. Representative Deb Sanderson of Chelsea says after that vote lawmakers went too far in making changes to what voters had approved. The way it is now, a patient who is prescribed medical marijuana has to register with the department of health and human services, pay the state a $100 fee, and sign a release of medical information. "This is an egregious movement on the part of the state to get into a patients personal medical record," Sanderson said. "This was not the intent of the law passed by the people on November 3rd 2009."

A diverse group including lawmakers, doctors, and medical marijuana patients were in Augusta Monday urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would change all of that. Representative Sanderson's bill would make registering with the state optional.

A co-sponsor of the bill, Representative Mark Dion (D) Portland, says it would also take the decision about whether marijuana is appropriate in a given situation out of the hands of the state and let doctors decide. "I'm going to defer to physicians that they know what's in the best interest of their patients," Dion said on Monday. "They don't need an index from the legislature telling them what medicine for what illness. We don't do that in any other arena of medicine."

Jeffrey Benedict of Winslow was prescribed marijuana after being diagnosed with a painful auto-immune disease. He came to testify in support of this bill. "Because there shouldn't be a barrier between me and my medication," he said. "I don't want to worry about the federal government bringing charges against me. I just want to stop the pain."

Sanderson says she's not advocating for the legalization of marijuana. She says the law voters approved has been changed and she wants it changed back.

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