The couple from Vienna who considered a building in Wilton for their medical marijuana dispensary will settle in Auburn.

Tim and Jennifer Smale's plan to open a dispensary in a former furniture store in the Auburn Plaza was approved by the city's Planning Board on Tuesday.

Marijuana likely will be available at that dispensary in the middle of March, said John Thiele, medical marijuana program manager for the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The Smales were selected by the department to open one of Maine's first eight medical marijuana dispensaries. There will be one dispensary in each of the state's public health districts. The Smales' dispensary must be in Franklin, Oxford or Androscoggin County.

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AUBURN - A marijuana dispensary is moving in at the Auburn Plaza.

Officials from Remedy Compassion, one of eight medical marijuana dispensaries selected by the Department of Health and Human Services, announced Thursday that it had received permission from the city of Auburn to open for business at the Center Street mall.

The Auburn Planning Board on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of a plan for Remedy Compassion to renovate existing space at the plaza.

"At this location," said Jennifer Smale of Vienna, patient services director for the group, "Remedy Compassion Center will be a place where qualified patients and caregivers will feel as safe and comfortable acquiring their medical cannabis as they would purchasing prescription drugs from a pharmacy."

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If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigrationduring the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

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FRENCHVILLE, Maine -- Residents have the opportunity to decide the immediate fate of a proposed, state-licensed medical marijuana dispensary during a town meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the community center.

Town building permits already have been awarded to Safe Alternatives, which this summer became the sole state-sanctioned dispensary for Aroostook County in accordance with the medical marijuana referendum passed by Maine voters a year ago.

Leo Trudel, principle of Safe Alternatives, says he is ready to work with town officials and residents to address any concerns his medical marijuana dispensary has raised.

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Madelyn Kearns got an arrow-splitting bull's eye exposing cannabis prohibition and extermination hypocrisy ("Half-Baked Excuses Keep Marijuana Unlit," Nov. 4).

By extension, the federal government even classifies the God-given plant cannabis - see the first page of the Bible - as a Schedule I substance along with heroin, while meth and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. The farce continues with hemp prohibition. Communist Chinese farmers are allowed to grow hemp, but free American farmers are prohibited. That's unfair for U.S. farmers who must compete in the free world market.

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Rehabilitation clinics often have a small rack of brochures in the waiting room for anyone curious about the impairment known as addiction.

Desperate for something to look at other than stale doughnuts and the blank screen on my phone, I grabbed one such pamphlet during a snack break at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and gave it a gander.

The booklet stated that alcoholism, illustrated as a shadow hovering above a lone kneeling man, was a harrowing disease which rendered the inflicted completely hopeless. Having already sat through stories of tremendous loss and irrevocable mistakes because of a bottle, I had a difficult time trying to fathom how an alcoholic, who makes a conscious choice for the shot glass instead of a shot at life, could be considered a victim or disabled.

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Regarding James M. Friedlander's Oct. 8 commentary ("A modest proposal: Should we legalize drugs?"), the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession.

At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use.

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I believe James Friedlander's proposal to legalize, regulate and control drugs is the correct course of action ("A modest proposal: Should we legalize drugs?" commentary, Oct. 8). Drug prohibition doesn't work any better than alcohol prohibition did. After 40 years and a trillion-dollars worth of Nixon's "war on drugs," drugs are cheaper, more potent and more available than ever.

We also get the added bonus of ever-increasing prohibition-related violence as drug dealers fight over the market. Drug dealers don't kill each other, and innocent bystanders, because they are high any more than Al Capone killed rival bootleggers because he was drunk. It's the money.

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Despite Melissa Fochesato's claims, there is no evidence whatsoever that allowing dispensaries results in increased marijuana use by teens. ("Sagadahoc teens like pot better than butts; Study results alarm local substance abuse counselors," Oct. 4).

It's been less than a year since Maine voters decided to allow dispensaries, so there is still no data that would allow one to draw such a conclusion.

However, in California, marijuana dispensaries have been legal for six years, during which time teen marijuana use has declined slightly (in line with national trends).

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Teenagers should not be using cigarettes, alcohol or cannabis (marijuana) but teens are choosing cannabis over cigarettes for a number of reasons the article "Sagadahoc Teens Like Pot Better Than Butts" published in your newspaper on Oct. 4 didn't mention.

Teens are more easily able to purchase cannabis because it is illegal, unregulated and sold on the black market by people who don't card for age. Teens have gotten the message that cigarettes are among the most addictive substances on the planet and they kill more than 1,000 Americans daily.

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I, too, was lucky enough to hear Ira Glasser's recent spirited address to the Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations on the subject of our ill-considered War on Drugs. Ira made a few points that struck me as fascinating, but which didn't get into Mac Deford's article ["Marijuana and Prohibition," September 30, 2010]. Consider:

- - We're forever hearing about prominent crack or cocaine dealers busted, but the enormous majority of arrests are not for hard drug offenses but for simple nonviolent marijuana possession.

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The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use.

The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue step in the right direction. Taxing and regulating marijuana would render the drug war obsolete. As long as organized crime controls distribution, marijuana consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

Robert Sharpe, MPA,

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.

[end]

Matters on our southern frontier are horrific. Mexico is fast on its way to becoming a Narcostate. Illegal trade is rampant across the border, Mexican narcotics come into the United States in exchange for illegal guns. The balance of illegal trade is still in Mexico's favor to the tune of billions every year.

America's hunger for addictive drugs never seems to be quenched, and we blame it on the Mexican cartels which, in these days of free trade, are doing no more than providing a supply to meet the demand.

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Study Results Alarm Local Substance Abuse Counselors

BATH - Area health officials report that Sagadahoc County teenagers are now statistically more likely to smoke marijuana than cigarettes. The change in substance abuse trends, counselors say, indicates a troubling impression among young people that pot is safe.

According to the latest results of the biannual Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, which was conducted last fall statewide, 21 percent of high school-aged respondents from Sagadahoc County admitted to smoking marijuana during the previous 30 days.

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Live And Learn?

During the past 75 years - going back to what was the height of the Great Depression - the US has, by any standard, grown immeasurably stronger and richer.

But as our economic power wanes and our military supremacy is challenged by asymmetric warfare, an entirely different issue arises: have we grown any smarter? And in asking this particular question, I'm not focusing on the K-12 education crisis we're suddenly all alert to, though that's bad enough.

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Here's a fact that even drug policy reform advocates can acknowledge: California's 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana does, indeed, pose a real threat, as conservative culture warriors insist. But not to public health, as those conservatives claim.

According to most physicians, pot is less toxic -- and has more medicinal applications -- than a legal and more pervasive drug such as alcohol. Whereas alcohol causes hundreds of annual overdose deaths, contributes to untold numbers of illnesses and is a major factor in violent crime, the use of marijuana has never resulted in a fatal overdose and has not been systemically linked to major illness or violent behavior.

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As I read about the public discussion regarding the location of a medical marijuana dispensary in Augusta, I would like to share a perspective. A dispensary would contribute to the prosperity of any small Maine town, and it could be a resource for the entire community rather than one only for a designated population.

A variety of integrated health services could be offered, open to everyone, and it could be a forum to foster a better understanding of this issue. So, why not think beyond the norm, and welcome a small business that will be integral to the community?

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BIDDEFORD - Action taken by the City Council Tuesday gives the green light for a combined medical marijuana dispensary and growing facility to set up shop on a major route in Biddeford.

The council's action occurs a week after the announcement that a company was awarded a license to provide marijuana for medical use in York County and wanted to locate in Biddeford.

The non-profit corporation Safe Harbor Maine, Inc., based in Poland, plans to locate a dispensary selling medical marijuana in an existing vacant building at 460 Alfred St. on Route 111.

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Police Chief James Craig's Idea Gets A Mixed Reaction From Lawmakers Because Of Prison Overcrowding.

PORTLAND - Police Chief James Craig says cocaine is at the root of much of the city's crime and he would like to see the laws reflect that.

Craig says he plans to meet with other police chiefs, legislators and prosecutors in an effort to make possession of cocaine a felony rather than a misdemeanor, which it is typically for a first offense.

"Crack cocaine breeds violence," Craig said. "Crack cocaine will destroy this community if we don't stay ahead of it."

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SANFORD -- It looks like there will not be a medical marijuana dispensary in Sanford, at least not in the foreseeable future.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services (DLRS) has selected Safe Harbor Maine, Inc. to operate a dispensary in Maine's Health District 1 of York County. Safe Harbor Maine proposes to establish a marijuana dispensary in Biddeford.

The DLRS announced Tuesday afternoon the selection of two nonprofit corporations, one in District 1 and one in District 7 (Washington and Hancock counties) to dispense marijuana under Maine's Medical Use of Marijuana Act.

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