Ruling upsets supporters of Maine’s medical pot law

Supporters of Maine’s medical marijuana law were disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing federal prosecution of sick people who use marijuana, but it was unclear how many people are actually affected by the ruling in Maine.

The referendum approved by Mainers in 1999 had no stipulation for a registry or identification cards to track how many people take advantage of the law.

In Maine, use of marijuana is between the patient and the doctor who writes a note or letter recommending the use of marijuana to alleviate symptoms stemming from cancer chemotherapy, AIDS or other specified medical conditions.

Patti Capouch of the Frannie Peabody Center, which advocates on behalf of people infected with HIV, said she was disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision, which means those complying with state law could be prosecuted in federal court.

“Here you have someone who’s ill with HIV or AIDS or cancer,” said Capouch, executive director of the agency based in Portland. “The possibility that they could be prosecuted for this doesn’t make sense to me.”

Capouch knows of several of the agency’s 250 clients who use medical marijuana in Maine, one of 10 states with such a law.

Assistant Attorney General James Cameron said the Maine law is narrow in scope because it limits marijuana only to those who are extremely sick.

While the state law decriminalizes possession of marijuana for medical purposes, it’s not the same as making marijuana legal, Cameron said. All along, the federal government has had the right to prosecute if it chose to do so.

“We’ve had a number of people who have been prosecuted who tried to use the medical marijuana law as a shield to hide their obvious criminal conduct,” he said.

Those prosecutions involved people who either possessed more marijuana than allowed under Maine’s law or faked a medical condition, Cameron said. The state law allows a patient to possess six plants or 2.5 ounces of processed marijuana.

Carroll Cummings of Vassalboro, a longtime marijuana activist who has been smoking the drug for years to ease symptoms of arthritis and a muscular skeletal condition, said he was reassessing his use in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

“I can’t put my family in jeopardy. I have to have the money that I got coming in. I think my only alternative is to quit right now,” Cummings told Maine Public Radio.

Kim Johnson of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse said she was happy with the Supreme Court ruling because she views the medical marijuana law as a veiled attempt to win legalization of the drug through incremental steps.

Each legislative session brings attempts to alter the law, often by increasing the allowable limits as was done in 2002, Johnson said.

“More kids smoke pot than tobacco in Maine. More kids come in from marijuana abuse than alcohol abuse,” said Johnson, who described marijuana as the most widely abused drug in Maine.

Don Christen, founder of the marijuana advocacy group Maine Vocals, said he was not surprised, but “very, very disappointed” by the Supreme Court ruling.

Christen, of Madison, is currently awaiting a fall trial in Skowhegan District Court on charges he provided marijuana to five people suffering from debilitating diseases.

“The federal government has done what it has always done, gone with zero tolerance,” Christen said. “It has completely disregarded the will and the vote of the people of the state of Maine.”

When he was arrested and charged with trafficking last November, Christen was in possession of 13 plants, which he argued he was growing for the five “patients” who sought his help.

Christen said his operation was public and that he had posted the doctors’ notices for all five people next to his front door. He expected to point out the vagueness of the Maine law at his trial, but was unsure how the U.S. Supreme Court ruling might affect his case.

“I can’t stress enough that it is the will of the people of Maine that is being squashed,” Christen said Monday.

Christen said the people to whom he provided marijuana are now afraid that federally funded investigators will seek to prosecute them.