Medical Marijuana Maine: Qualified Registered Medical Marijuana Patients

We list below the main points to remember if you aim to register for a medical marijuana card in Maine:

1. As of January 2, 2011, no affirmative defense due to medical necessity exists. The only protection against criminal prosecution is to register with Maine Department of Health and Human Service’s Medical Marijuana Program
   
2. A qualifying patient means “a person whose physician has provided written certificaqtion to the department (DHHS) for the patient’s medical use of marijuana.”
   
3. Patients must have at least one of the following debilitating medical conditions to be a qualifying patient:
   
   1. Cancer, Glaucoma, HIV positive, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Hepatitis C, Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, Nail-Patella Syndrome
      
   2. Intractable pain defined as “a chronic of debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces intractable pain… which has not responded to ordinary medical or surgical measures for more than six months.”
      
   3. One of the following symptoms, caused by a medical condition, disease, or its treatment: cachexia or “wasting syndrome,” severe nausea, seizures including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy, severe and persistent muscle spasms including but not limited to those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
      
4. DHHS MMMP requires that a physician provide written certification of the qualifying condition and such certification must be made in the course of a bona fide physician-patient relationship, demonstrated by physician monitoring, maintenance of records, and specific diagnosis.
   
5. DHHS MMMP requires that all qualifying patients register with the department and be issued a department identification card. Possession of our application for a registry identification card is not evidence of unlawful conduct or a basis for a search. Patients are required to re-register each year with the DHHS.
   
6. Prepared marijuana means “the dried leaves and flowers of the marijuana plant, and any mixtures or preparation of those dried leaves and flowers, including but not limited to tinctures, ointments, and other preparations. It does not include the seeds (or seedlings), stalks, and roots of the marijuana or other ingredients in goods prepared for human consumption or use.”
   
7. A usable amount of marijuana for medical use means “two and one-half” (2.5) ounces or less of prepared marijuana and a total of six (6) marijuana plants. A qualifying patient may not possess more than 2.5 ounces at any time.
   
8. A seedling means a “marijuana plant that has no flowers, is less than 12 inches in height and is less than 12 inches in diameter.”
   
9. A marijuana plant means a “harvestable female marijuana plant that is flowering and is greater than twelve inches in height and twelve inches in diameter.” A qualifying patient may only possess six (6) marijuana plants at any one time.
   
10. Marijuana, both prepared and plants, must be kept in an enclosed, locked facility. An enclosed locked facility means a “closet, room, or other enclosed area within a building, or an enclosed locked facility within a greenhouse, that is equipped with locks or other security devices that permits access only by a cardholder.”
    
11. As a qualifying, registered patient you are STILL PROHIBITED from the following behavior:
    
    1. Undertaking any task under the influence of marijuana when doing so would constitute negligence or professional malpractice or would otherwise violate any professional standard.
       
    2. Possessing marijuana in a school bus, on the grounds of any (school) or in a correctional facility.
       
    3. Smoking marijuana in any form of public transportation, in a public place, while operating, navigating, or in the actual physical control of any motorized vehicle, aircraft, motorboat, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle.
       
12. Medical marijuana MAY NOT be transferred for value. Unused, unadulterated marijuana may be disposed of in the following manner(s):
    
    1. Giving it to a registered patient
       
    2. Giving it to a registered primary caregiver
       
    3. Giving it to a registered dispensary
       
    4. Giving it to a state or local law enforcement officer. Presentation of a valid registry ID card and a ME driver’s license may be required.

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