Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 Source: Patriot Ledger, The (Quincy, MA) Copyright: 2012 GateHouse Media, Inc. Contact: http://www.patriotledger.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1619 Author: Jack Encarnacao BACKERS MAKE CASE FOR BALLOT QUESTION ALLOWING MEDICAL MARIJUANA The group pushing to legalize marijuana for medicinal uses in Massachusetts says that if the ballot question is approved, the state will become a national model for how to allow access to the drug without it being abused. The Committee for Compassionate Medicine touts the initiative's limit on the number of marijuana dispensaries allowed in the state - 35 - and its felony charge for those caught defrauding the system to obtain marijuana. The crime would be punishable by up to five years in prison. Voters Nov. 6 will decide on a ballot question that would legalize marijuana for patients suffering from a debilitating medical condition such as cancer. The law would allow patients to possess up to a 60-day supply of marijuana for their personal medical use. The state Department of Public Health, which licenses physicians and pharmacists, would be tasked with deciding what amount of marijuana would constitute a 60-day supply. Matt Allen, director of the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, said marijuana can help people suffering from a range of maladies, including nerve damage or pain from cancer treatments. "The science is clear. These patients can benefit from access to medical marijuana," Allen told The Patriot Ledger's editorial board Thursday. "Many of them would like to have the option to discuss with doctors and potentially use it, as they can in 17 other states. These are real people." Allen was accompanied Thursday by Jerome Smith, a 43-year-old medical marijuana user from Fall River who was paralyzed below the waist in a car accident. Smith said his muscle spasms subsided after he began using marijuana, which he puts in cookies and candy or vaporizes and inhales. He also said the drug relieves pain and other problems without the immobilizing effects of prescription painkillers like OxyContin. "I've been able to come off at least seven different medications," he said. "It's allowed me to be a dad again." Opponents of the initiative, including Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch and Quincy state Sen. John Keenan, say it is rife with potential for abuse and makes it too easy for drug distributors to get access to marijuana. Because marijuana is illegal, doctors can't write prescriptions for it as they can other medicines. They can only make "recommendations" to patients in states that allow medical marijuana. Because of this, some critics worry that marijuana will not be monitored by the state as closely as often-abused prescription drugs. Allen said medical marijuana usage would be simple for law enforcement and state officials to track through a registration process dictated by the ballot question. He said the Department of Public Health would have discretion to decide on appropriate dosages as well as procedures to ensure doctors are legitimately recommending the drug. "The fact is, if we tried to put all these parameters in the initiative itself, it would be hundreds of pages and no one would understand it," he said. While it has received modest donations from individuals across the state, The Committee for Compassionate Medicine is in large part funded by $465,000 in contributions from Peter Lewis, a retired chief executive of Progressive Insurance. Allen said Lewis has supported medical marijuana since he began using it after part of his leg was amputated. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt