Ask Governor LePage to support efforts to reclassify marijuana
Published: December 21, 2011
Ask Governor
LePage to support efforts to reclassify marijuana
Click here to email his office
As you may
have heard, Governors Christine Gregoire of Washington and Lincoln Chafee of
Rhode Island recently
submitted a petition asking the federal government to change its policy
with respect to medical marijuana. Marijuana is currently considered a “Schedule
I” drug, with a high potential for abuse and “no currently accepted medical use
in treatment in the United States.” As over 800 patients enrolled in Maine’s
medical marijuana program can tell you, that is patently false.
Unfortunately,
the petition only asks that marijuana be moved to Schedule II, which would
still leave it very difficult for patients to obtain medicine. And
regrettably, Chafee and Gregoire have used the petition as cover for their
failure to implement laws passed by their state legislatures that would have
made medical marijuana available to patients through well-regulated channels.
Nonetheless, moving marijuana out of Schedule I is an important step in the
right direction that other governors should support.
Please ask Maine Governor Paul LePage to
join other governors in asking the federal government to reclassify marijuana.
Fortunately, Maine’s well-regulated
network of dispensaries allows patients to safely obtain marijuana, but there
are 34 states with no medical marijuana laws at all. Moreover, reclassification
would make it possible for marijuana to be prescribed and dispensed through traditional
channels. Governor Pete Shumlin in neighboring Vermont has already
said he will join the rescheduling effort, and you can ask Governor LePage
to do the same by emailing him now.
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