Please help us! Donate

Forgot username or password?

Vote Smart Just The Facts

"Experts nearly all recommend Vote Smart."

"Vote Smart is a bright light in an often desultory civic culture."

- Bill Moyers

"We think so highly of Vote Smart that we are distributing their materials to all of our affiliates."

Media

Maine Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure: Summary and Results

2009 November 12 - Stefan

Maine Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure Follow-up:

On Tuesday, November 3rd, voters in Maine passed Question 5: Citizens Initiative with 59% of the votes. This initiated bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue registry identification cards to patients who qualify to possess marijuana for medical use and to their designated primary caregivers. It sets limits on the amount of marijuana that may be possessed by qualifying patients and their designated primary caregivers, allows the establishment of nonprofit dispensaries to provide marijuana to qualifying patients and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a registration certificate to a nonprofit dispensary that meets certain criteria, and changes the description of the medical conditions for which the medical use of marijuana is permitted. The measure also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish application and renewal fees sufficient to pay the expenses of implementing and administering the provisions of the initiated bill. The new legislation repeals the state's old statutes regarding medical marijuana and replaces them with a new law, entitled the Maine Medical Marijuana Act.

The new Act expands the list of medical conditions for which marijuana may be prescribed to include cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's disease"), Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's diseases, nail-patella syndrome, and the treatment of any of these conditions; plus any chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition that causes intractable pain that has ...