Pubdate: Sun, 27 May 2012
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Erin Smith

MEDICAL MARIJUANA OPPONENTS FIGHT AG ON BALLOT QUESTION

Opponents of a November ballot question to legalize medical marijuana 
want the state's highest court to force Attorney General Martha 
Coakley to spell out for voters the exact details of the proposed 
law, which would open dozens of pot dispensaries and allow home-grown 
marijuana.

"We believe the language is misleading. We will be educating the 
voters about the realities of this legislation and how harmful it 
will be," said Heidi Heilman, president and founder of Massachusetts 
Prevention Alliance, who said the proposal is vague and lacks 
oversight. "You don't have to smoke opium to get the benefits of 
morphine. We'd love to have marijuana studied as a plant to get it 
out on the market in a safe way."

Coakley's office asked the Supreme Judicial Court to dismiss the 
group's petition on Friday, setting up a hearing next month ahead of 
ballot printing in July.

Coakley's drafted ballot question "eliminating state criminal and 
civil penalties" for medical marijuana users is neutral, said state 
lawyers, who argued Heilman's group wants to revise the language to 
kill the proposal.

"The most important thing is to get the right result," said Brad 
Puffer, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, adding the 
office is working with all parties involved.

John Sofis Scheft, the attorney who filed MPA's petition earlier this 
month, said voters may not know the law would set up 35 nonprofit 
marijuana dispensaries, allow for home growing if a dispensary isn't 
within a reasonable distance of home and allow any approved user to 
carry a 60-day supply of pot.

"Our position is the voters should know what they're voting for," 
said Scheft, adding the proposed law doesn't specify the amount of a 
60-day supply or the distance parameters for home growing.

Heilman, a Wayland mother of three, also slammed billionaire Peter 
Lewis for bankrolling the ballot question, saying the out-of-state 
supporter has no business pushing policy in Massachusetts. Lewis 
donated $525,000 last year to the Committee for Compassionate 
Medicine's ballot question efforts. The group raised $526,167 last 
year, making Lewis, an Ohio native who now lives in Florida, the 
majority donor.

Lewis told the Herald yesterday: "I have supported various efforts in 
various states since the early 1990s in my general effort to make the 
laws surrounding marijuana less punitive and less hypocritical."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom