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| | Notes From Maine LD1296 Bill Meeting In Augusta on 5/9/2011
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Some Real Good News For The Medical Marijuana Patients In Maine!
Good Positive Changes Are About To Happen!
Notes from LD1296 Bill Meeting In Augusta 5/9/2011.
MAINE LAWMAKERS VOTE DOWN POT LEGALIZATION BUT EASE ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA
An
Act To Amend the Maine Medical Use of
Marijuana Act To Protect Patient Privacy LD
1296,
Attending: Roy McKinney, director MDEA, Todd Brackett, Lincoln county
Sheriff, Dan Billings, Gov. office, Jenifer Duddy, HHS Legislative
Liaison, Deb Sanderson, Rep & Sponsor, Alysia Melnick, MCLU
Where the Bill is going, substantive changes
– There will be a standard doctor’s recommendation
form printed on tamper resistant paper with a one year expiration date
for patients.
There will be no indication of diagnosis on this recommendation, the
patients privacy will remain intact by keeping it with the physician.
– There will be a standard caregiver designation form,
with an expiration date and a signature. There will be an signed
release on the back of the form with contact information for the
patient so Law Enforcement may verify that information is current
The department will be coming up with a standard form that will
co-exist and cross reference with the recommendation sheet. The
patients contact info will be on the letter for law enforcement.
– Minors will be able to be patients and that will
only between the guardian, doctor and minor
The department did not want to give up having a child go to two
specialists to concur that recommendation for mmj was the best course
of treatment for the child...I insisted we go back to the CIB language
and keep the decision placed with the parents and physician.
– The Gov. Office is pressing for a return to the
original medical conditions that were listed in the Citizen's
initiated bill (CIB). This would be left to HHS to add to the list and
Dan Billings wish's to get rid of the board that should be formed
before July 1st. For conditions to be added HHS would need to be
petitioned and go through a hearing process. This works for better
access due to the fact that the check box for diagnosis is removed
from the recommendation form. That information would be between the
doctor and patient and be subject to medical privacy laws.
A lot of push back on removing the "list" of conditions~there is also
some discomfort on the part of some physicians. We are getting rid of
the non-existent board and because the mandatory registry will be
gone, I feel this may give physicians a little more liberty to
recommend because, the condition for which the patient is being
treated will also NOT be on the recommendation.
– Caregivers would be required to register, but there
would be no information submitted about their patients. They would not
submit the number of patients they have, only that they are a
caregiver. If you are care giving for a household member(s), you would
not have to register. Tentatively the information submitted to HHS
would be name and state ID#, plus cultivation site.
Even though caregivers for "non-family" patients will have to
register, the information included on the card will be minimized. I
am hoping to get the cultivation site off....that can be verified
through the Id# when law enforcement calls to verify. You will also
not have to report how many patients you have at a given time and I am
pushing for and will probably get, just one yearly fee assessed rather
than the per patient fee. It will be up to the caregiver to follow
the law of up to 5 patients and your proof that you are within the law
will be the letters of recommendation that you have from the patients
designating you as such.
The DHHS would have liked to have had you report the number of
patients you have but, we pushed back and said that law enforcement
needed only a mechanism to know that you were a caregiver and could
legitimately grow...unless there was a reason for them to actually
come onto the property, whereas patients no longer need to register,
they could verify compliance with the law to the number of patients by
referring to the patient recommendations you will keep on file and up
to date.
I know we wanted the caregivers to have registry choice, and in the
CIB is is voluntary however, because we have a mandatory registry
right now and the feds are scrutinizing mmj laws a little more
carefully, a roll back on "grow site" regulations could raise a red
flag. That is the last thing we want for we don't want the system to
come under close scrutiny by them and be in jeopardy. Also, the MDEA
and county sheriff's felt very strongly that if there is a mechanism
for them to verify a LEGAL cultivation site, it would be better for
then they would know if they got a tip. Todd was great to work with
today and really seems to want to get a handle on this so they can do
the right thing....Roy of course isn't happy with the whole marijuana
growing thing anyway...never will be but....by bringing him in today
and having him be part of the discussion.....having him sit right
beside Dan Billings who was very supportive with the governors
position on mmj.....this may help to alleviate some of the raids that
have been going on. If he's part of the process of setting the
standards, then in my estimation, he has more incentive to make sure
his boyz follow the standards.
We are also going to incorporate the same language that defines
"family" that we put in for the food licensing to cover the immediate
family members in the home such as spouses or partners,
children...families will not have to register to grow and care for
their loved ones.
– 2.5 oz. is a must for the Gov. Office to support the
bill. This is because 2.5 oz. was in the CIB. What was added is an
affirmative defense for those who are charged with having over their
limit, to be considered by the court. The example that was used was a
person who just harvested, or a person who had a .5 oz. left, then
went and got their 2.5 oz. limit. This would allow them the same legal
avenue offered to those who did not register under the CIB. This is
the same as under the 99' law.
The above is pretty well defined and with the added piece of
affirmative defense for anything above and beyond the 2.5, it keeps
another red flag of a bigger expansion out of the feds eyes. Like
Paul wrote, they didn't want to budge on the 2.5 as outlined in the
CIB so we actually gained ground by being able to add the affirmative
defense piece in. This could be helpful for those who grow outside on
their own and in the fall have completed a harvest and could/would
have more than the 2.5......
– Dried leaves will be included in prepared marijuana,
as it was under the CIB. This is something that law enforcement, HHS
and the Gov. Office is not budging on It was mentioned how in Cali.
Patients who can't afford medication are given the leaf and trim,
along with Cobb having contact with a fed who deals with marijuana,
who said leaves were potent.
Both Todd Bracket and Roy McKinney said, in statute, leaves are
included in regard to possession.....so....if your trimming
plants...Todds words were....just chuck it on the compost pile if it's
something you aren't going to use. If it's dried in a bag and looks
like it could be used, it is considered "prepared" and will be counted
in your possession limit. Unfortunately the CIB did not include
leaves so we had very little to fight with on that front.
– There will no longer be any on site assessments.
YAY! No onsite assessments from the DHHS...gone....
– There will be a form for visiting patients that will
need to be signed by their doctor, with contact information for that
doctor’s office. It will be an online form. The visiting patients will
need to have their valid out-of-state ID, Registry card and filled out
form.
This is a win, even though it was addressed in the CIB...the language
is a bit vague but we were able to keep this provision for visiting
patients.
– Physicians can be subject to penalty by their employers.
We really cannot by statute determine what a healthcare facility must
accept for their physicians. Private clinic's have the right to
determine if their physician's can or cannot recommend mmj.
– Landlord will be able to ban cultivation on site per CIB
CIB....
– There is discussion about using the language from
Haskell’s bill LD 1159 for when police encounter people over their
limits. Law Enforcement will only seize what is over the limit and
charge what the difference was (i.e. single patient with 5 oz. Would
only be charged with civil possession and could employ an affirmative
defense)
Pretty self explanatory and as I said on one bullet above, does expand
the CIB through the affirmative defense for anything over 2.5
– Bail and sentencing concerning medication will be
left to the courts, since Judges already have such powers
Self explainatory
– There is debate over purging of records. HHS is
concerned that it is a matter of public record and law enforcement
brought up that they may retroactively charge someone, and if there
was no record of them in the system, the charges could move forward.
We are waiting for an opinion from the AG's office.
Still waiting on this piece. This was not part of the CIB and even
though we are fighting to keep it.....we'll have to wait and see.
Perhaps if we get HUGE push back on this we can negotiate to extend
the time frame that the department can keep the records, but then they
do have to be purged.
– There will not be a log for who sees the Caregivers
registry due to the fact it would be too expensive and complicated for
HHS. The whole caregiver’s registry will soon be automated also.
They are currently working on the metro check piece of the system
where law enforcement will not have to call the DHHS directly,
instead, they can access a "yes/no" feature to verify that you are a
legitimate grower.
– The issues with outdoor cultivation comes from the
CIB, which states that it must be within an enclosed locked facility,
and lists three indoor examples. We have come to an agreement about it
being an enclosed, locked space outside, but it must be fenced in. We
are working on what the regulations for the fencing will be and more
details on this part of the bill.
Even though the CIB does say "area", because the examples that are
given are all enclosed area's we are getting push back on this piece.
Alysia is working on language for an enclosed fenced and locked area.
We worked very hard to explain why it was important for some folks to
grow outside and I think if we come up with some good protective
language we will be able to get it included.
– The Maine Municipal Association has agreed to not
limit caregivers, only dispensaries.
I will forward you the language that Kate from the MMA came up with
for this piece.....I think it's good and will ensure they don't push
back against the caregivers.....just be able to determine where the
dispensaries can go.
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