Maine Votes 'Yes' on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

[KansasVoter]

Maine Votes 'Yes' on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Salem-News.com
Becomes 3rd State to License Medical Marijuana Providers; Vote Seen as Latest Advance Spurred by Obama Policy.

(AUGUSTA, Maine) - In a landmark vote, Maine voters today approved Question 5, making the state the third in the country to license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and the first ever to do so by a vote of the people.

With 49 percent of the vote tallied, the measure was cruising to an easy win with 60.2 percent voting “yes” and 39.8 percent voting “no.”

Under the measure, the state will license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and set rules for their operation. While 13 states permit medical use of marijuana, only Rhode Island and New Mexico have similar dispensary provisions, both of which were adopted by the states’ legislatures. Maine’s original medical marijuana law was passed in 1999.

“This is a dramatic step forward, the first time that any state’s voters have authorized the state government to license medical marijuana dispensaries,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., which drafted the initiative and provided start-up funding for the campaign. “Coming a decade after passage of Maine’s original marijuana law, this is a huge sign that voters are comfortable with these laws, and also a sign that the recent change of policy from the Obama administration is having a major impact.”

In October, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a formal policy indicating that federal prosecutors should not prosecute medical marijuana activities authorized by state law.

Question 5 also expands the list of medical conditions qualifying for protection under Maine’s law to include several conditions that are included in most other medical marijuana states, including intractable pain, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”).

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Yes, I was pleasantly surprised with the numbers. If only #1 had gone the same way.

[MadMaddie]

2. #1 Failed?

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. We are now 52%-47% in favor of the bad guys with 80% reporting in. Still time yet, but

I worry that we won't pull this one out.

[KansasVoter]

4. A lot og bigots out there who act different in public!

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. That, and we still have a fair number of conservative religious folks. Add to that

they outspent us by a lot and played dirty pool with their "schools will be required to teach homosexual marriage to small children" crap and you can see how they pulled this off. It's Prop 8 all over again. x(