Tagged: caregiver

Yes on 1: Legalize prosperity

To the Editor:

With patients reporting positive reactions from the medical use of marijuana — from veterans with PTSD to cancer patients who cannot eat — Mainers should allow patients and doctors to be able to determine the best treatments and have ready access to marijuana, without fear of committing a crime.

Many Mainers can’t access medical marijuana. They either do not have one of the few qualifying conditions or cannot afford a $300-per-year doctor’s recommendation.

If marijuana were legal for private, adult use, we could control and regulate it, rather than allowing criminals to control its distribution and quality. We could create a new industry in a state that does not have a vibrant economy, with a supply chain of  garden stores, merchants, growers, testing labs, warehouses, delivery services, and more. We know we can do it, because Maine’s has been called one of the nation’s best run dispensary systems in the country.

Let’s legalize prosperity in Maine by voting Yes on 1 in November.

Yes on 1: Sensible drug policy

To the Editor:

Have you ever heard of anyone overdosing on marijuana?

How about traffic deaths from it?

Murder or robbery? Assault? Domestic violence?

The truth is, marijuana is a fairly benign drug that offers a path forward to quell the opioid epidemic in two ways: by freeing up time and money for police to focus on violent drug crimes by out-of-state offenders, and by offering addicts a new treatment option that has been deemed effective in diverting hard drug users from substances from out of state that cause social disruption, domestic violence, crime, addiction, and human misery.

Sensible drug policy requires us to vote Yes on 1. Legalizing marijuana is sensible policy.

Yes on 1: Listen to the police

To the Editor:
With overcrowded jails keeping dangerous people on the streets, and police fighting battles with much greater public safety impact, it would be a refreshing change to divert police resources away from nonviolent offenders and toward the serious, violent, and unsolved crimes like assault, car theft, robbery, and domestic assault.

The truth is valuable law enforcement resources are being wasted on locking up people for small marijuana crimes. In other states that have approved legalization measures, arrests for simple marijuana offenses are down nearly 90%, saving a huge amount of police and court time and substantial taxpayer money.

Thanks to a well-run, well-regulated medical system that is graded one of the best in the nation, we know Maine is capable of running legalized marijuana businesses that create jobs, leverage our world-class space in specialty and small-scale agriculture, and shuts down the black market that keep the drugs in the hands of minors and others who shouldn’t possess it.

Marijuana is widely available in Maine, always has been, and will eventually be legalized. The current system isn’t working. Question 1 offers a chance for adults who choose to use marijuana – or who need it for medical purposes – to get it in a safe, regulated environment.

In November, vote Yes on 1.

Yes on 1: Government doesn’t ban dangerous things. It regulates and taxes them.

To the Editor:

Government generally doesn’t ban dangerous things. It regulates and taxes them.

So why would Mainers want to continue the ludicrous ban on adult possession of marijuana when alcohol, tobacco and firearms kill thousands of people annually?

Has there ever been a single recorded death from a marijuana overdose?

No? Then why is marijuana illegal while the other products known to cause harm are kept legal and taxed?

There’s no logical reason, especially when Maine needs the money and has been growing, selling and distributing marijuana for centuries. Also, Maine already taxes and regulates many other products deemed dangerous, including alcohol, tobacco and firearms.

A study by the conservative Tax Foundation says Maine could get as much as $16 million per year from taxes on marijuana, perhaps much more.

Mainers want to see more money poured into drug enforcement to target the drugs that actually harm and kill people. We can do so responsibly, within existing regulatory frameworks, in the best traditions of Maine, by voting Yes on 1 in November.