Maine Office of Marijuana Policy’s Preliminary Draft Rules

BY SUSAN MEEHAN

This is an important call to action to contact the Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP) and your legislators to let them know what is going on at the “rule level” of Maine’s medical marijuana program. On January 4, a letter with links to an 80-page draft was emailed to some stakeholders in the program. You can read the draft rules at http://bit.ly/OMP_Draft Note. OMP is currently editing the draft based on public comments, will then put forth an official draft, and then schedule a public hearing.

Changes that will impact patient-healthcare provider relationships

The draft rules propose that pediatric patients must fit a new list developed by the Office of Marijuana Policy. The list of “approved conditions” is: epilepsy, cancer, developmental disability, and intellectual disability. This list does not encompass the majority of our pediatric patient conditions. The inadequate list (applicable only to patients under age 18) does not include autism spectrum disorder, Asperger’s, spasticity, chronic pain, migraine, ADHD, anxiety, inflammation-related diseases such as Lyme, or any other physician-noted conditions that cannabis is known to resolve. Decisions for medical treatments for our kids belong between healthcare providers, patients, and parents. We request that these rules reflect our statutes that place these decisions in the correct place—among doctor,patient, and parent. There is no need for a list that is subject to a politically driven committee fed information by lobbyists with ulterior motives. Patients, especially pediatric patients, have a relationship with their providers that cannot be replaced by an inadequate committee-generated list of conditions.

Section C (page 17) of the draft states that an examination by a non-primary care provider must occur at a “Permanent location that is clinically appropriate for conducting medical services and that enables the patient to return for follow up, consultation or assistance, as needed,” but Section D indicates that remote healthcare services (in our remote and rural state where telemedicine is widely used) is not prohibited. Which is it? Telemedicine is the current situation for many families who are impacted by COVID and dealing with government limitations and restrictions. There should be no requirement for a permanent physical location or visit that impedes patient access.

The draft also limits locations and virtual avenues by which a doctor can establish and maintain a doctorpatient relationship. With current events and the reality that these children are often medically fragile, patients are far safer at home meeting a doctor via a phone or video conference method when they choose to do so.

The security requirements are expensive and excessive. These excessive demands seem to generate income for security companies while placing small caregivers at risk of noncompliance and losing their ability to serve their patients.

The draft virtually eliminates caregivers without storefronts and indicates an inability to do business without a storefront, as caregivers cannot provide clones or plants to patients without operating a retail location. Additionally, in the draft language, caregivers cannot operate a caregiver business out of their homes and remain in compliance without every person in the home (including children) being registered cardholders. Visitors to the property would also be subject to search as the caregiver could not allow visitors or patients to be on property with cannabis brought to the property from another source.

Further restrictions to registered premises would make the following things illegal at a caregiver’s home: a caregiver who operates a caregiver business from their home (now their “registered premises”) may not have parties or catered events and may not engage or allow others to engage in consumption of marijuana or liquor or any controlled substance in their home . Additionally, the caregiver may not allow consumption of marijuana by anyone except a qualifying patient, but in the same sentence, “…so long as no qualifying patient [including the consumer?] sees, smells, hears or otherwise observes the consumption of medical marijuana.” This is ludicrous! These rules are overreaching into our homes, our privacy, and our rights as citizens of Maine and the United States.

Many caregivers use the family kitchen to process products. Deeming this a “registered premises” whether or not business is being conducted eliminates a citizen’s right to freedom within their own home. Additionally, the draft indicates that a caregiver must allow access without limitation to OMP, law enforcement, etc. NO. If the department or law enforcement show up at a caregiver’s home when the caregiver is not engaged in “business,” there should not be a clause that states that these officials are not to be denied entry to “registered premises.” Many caregivers operate on an appointmentonly basis from their homes.

We have a right to be secure within our homes, and we will not sign away this right. I have family gatherings, parties, and maybe even catered events at my residence. Because I operate a caregiver’s business from said home does not give OMP or law enforcement unlimited access. The draft would basically eliminate all compliant home-based Maine caregivers.

Impact to patients

A patient may only process harvested marijuana in an enclosed and lockable area. Many of our patients do not have this luxury to isolate and lock themselves away from their family (that in many cases includes special needs kids who may or may not be cannabis patients). It is not clear whether a mechanical extraction method using ethanol is permitted, although 99% pure ethanol is listed as acceptable. Most market options are 180 proof, which places patients in violation if they are using Everclear, for example, a 95% ethanol product.

The cost of medicines will soar with the few caregivers who are able to meet these overreaching expectations and limitations. Patients and parents on fixed incomes, and those with limited incomes due to COVID and serious medical issues or other issues, cannot afford these price increases.

Privacy violations/METRC tracking system

The inventory tracking program and travel ticket process that disclose patient card registry numbers and patient addresses compromise our patients’ rights to privacy and subject patients to information being placed in a database, crossing digital lines for every single transaction. This exposes patients to unnecessary risk of data breach and therefore breach of confidential medical information.

Vehicles used to transport marijuana must have a “manufacturer installed alarm system” and plants or products cannot be visible. Does this mean a caregiver who owns an SUV or a van with no trunk cannot participate?

Maine’s medical marijuana program is the top performing industry in the state of Maine, and caregivers account for about 75% of this performance. There are products that are difficult to locate, such as specialized tinctures, that will no longer be available through Maine’s program when caregivers are forced to close their doors.

About the author

Susan Meehan is the owner of Mae’s Mamas, a homebased medical marijuana caregiver proprietorship. She became a “medical refugee” to Maine in 2013 when she brought her daughter Cyndimae to Maine from Connecticut to treat a devastating form of epilepsy, which was triggered by encephalitis caused by a set of childhood vaccinations. Cyndimae was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome. In Maine, with doctor-guided assistance, Cyndimae enjoyed the last three years of her life off of pharmaceutical drugs that had kept her seizing and bound to a wheelchair. She laughed, lived, and loved playing like a normal child while fighting alongside her mother for better access in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and South Carolina. Cyndimae’s seizures started 27 hours post-vaccination at 10 months of age, and they were uncontrolled by any drug (23 attempts) except marijuana. Cyndimae died in her sleep at the age of 13 on March 13, 2016. Her death was labeled “Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy.” She is survived by her parents, her three older sisters, and many extended family.