Thanks to Jarodyscampaign for video taping and uploading the hearings. I put a link to it in our video section as well.

There were many passionate testimony pressented at the hearings, many note worthy speakers, Rep Sanderson started it off with a great introduction to the bill.

Dustin spoke very well also, there were tons of good testimony please watch it, I know its almost three hours but it is a great piece to watch if your at all interested in where we are going today with this movement.

Notice that my statement is at 4:20!!!!   wasn't that a cool coincidence.  statement is from 1:41:00 to 1:51:30  THATS RIGHT THEY GAVE ME 10.5 MIN. everyone else got 3 min. that was cool, it seemed like they really wanted to know more. Might be a good thing...when people know what it is they fear it less because in the end it really is harmless.

I think my statement was pretty good, I kinda gave the committee a lesson in what Hash is and pointed out the hypocrasy of the laws and how its not right that while some states give life sentences to citizens for Hash the FDA is giving the rights to market Sativex another marijuana concentrate around the country. I pointed out that tincture is a concentrate and Hash is a concentrate why do the laws make one illegal but the other ok? and you know none of them even knew what Hash or Kief is.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JarodysCampaign#p/a/u/2/kO7iUc37eDg

I noticed the following passage on a Maine Marijuana site. And it’s a perfect chance for me to point out many of the misconceptions around getting your registration to the state.

I just wanted to throw in my two cents worth, I honestly don’t intend to be mean or condescending, I just want to point out there’s more than one view on these topics and people need to be well informed….

Heres the passage-

‘Top 4 reasons to get a Medical Marijuana card

1) Legal Protection – If you’re already using cannabis without a medical marijuana card, you are breaking both state and federal law and as such are subject to the ridiculously harsh penalties many states impose on marijuana users. Even if you’re using cannabis as a legitimate treatment of disease, you are still breaking state law if you don’t have a medical marijuana prescription from a licensed doctor.

One of the best parts about being a card-carrying MMJ patient is that you are afforded full legal protection under the states medical marijuana laws. This means when you get pulled over for a routine speeding ticket and the cops ask you to search your car, you can allow them to search with no fear of being taken to jail or having your valuable medicine being confiscated. The law is on your side now, but only if you have a medical marijuana card!

2) Marijuana is an extremely effective medicine – At this point, its hard to dispute the medicinal value of cannabis. It seems to be the only substance on Earth that can cure the painful nausea caused by chemotherapy, greatly retard the onset of blindness from glaucoma and relieve depression without destroying your bodies chemical balance – all with zero negative long-term side effects. Marijuana is a wonder drug that’s been used as an effective medicine dating back at least 6,000 years.

3) The golden ticket into medical marijuana dispensaries - Another incredibly cool thing about having your medical marijuana card is that it allows you access into medical marijuana dispensaries (aka cannabis clubs). In California alone, there are over five hundred medical marijuana dispensaries eager to serve the needs of its patients.

Going into a medical marijuana dispensary in California is almost like going to a coffeeshop in Amsterdam. Many retailers have dozens of cannabis strains to choose from, ranging from high end buds like white widow, AK-47 and northern lights to mid-range chronic, all the way down to $35 for an eighth ounce schwag. Some even offer rooms with Volcano vaporizers in them, so you can safely medicate with fellow patients.

4) You can grow you’re own – With your medical marijuana card, not only can you legally buy medical cannabis, concentrates like bubble hash and hash oil, delicious edibles, tinctures and crazy tainted sodas but you can also legally grow your own pot!

The State of Maine allows any valid medical marijuana patient to have up to six mature plants growing at one time. This amount is fairly generous, considering that up to 4 lbs of dried flower can be harvested from a single 6′ outdoor cannabis indica plant.

The vast majority of people will not register with the state because of a host of reasons like….

TOP 12 reasons not to register with the state…

-Doctors don’t write prescriptions, the DEA would remove their rights to prescribe if they did. They just write a ‘recommendation’ and even that is being used against doctors today. In fact the DEA has a running order for doctors that if a patient of theirs tests positive for Marijuana or even admits to it the doctor is required to drop that patient. We have seen several patients dropped just for using Marijuana. It’s the DEA who licenses the doctors rights to prescribe narcotics. Patients cant afford to take the chance of loosing medical care.

-Card or not your still breaking Federal laws, and good for you because they are laws that are unjust and self serving to the people who are backing them. Laws created that make citizens criminals for no other reason than to keep some employed are not just laws and we as free thinking citizens have an obligation to our fellow citizens to show them the reason! All drugs are more harmful than Marijuana including Caffeine, and aspirin, but the FDA and the Feds refuse to admit it. This would undermine the booming business of making people criminals, they are after all the fuel for our many legal systems catering primarily to drug users.

-The card does not protect you from public use, where you might get stopped by an officer. Your card will not protect you if you have been smoking in public, that’s still not legal to do. Don’t leave anything laying around in your car, and don’t smoke in public. Patients don’t need a card to be smart about their actions.

-The card wont stop them from breaking down your door. If law enforcement knows you have plants and anyone makes a complaint even anonymously the police will break in your door and harass you. And your card will not stop them from ransacking your home and pointing guns at your kids. Just ask many of the patients on MGC’s forums they know the truth.

-The state can’t guarantee your vital information is safe. If your growing for yourself theres no way DHHS can guarantee the address of your garden and hundreds of others wont be compromised by hackers looking to steal money and product from people all over Maine. Someone is going to get hurt with these foolish laws.

-They have no provisions for ever removing people from these roles, That pigeon holes you as a drug user for all time and if the state decides to remove the laws we have made like they did in Jan 2011 there’s no recourse for you to avoid prosecution, you in essence have admitted your crimes to them.

-The laws are randomly enforced and different law enforcement officials will deal with this in lots of different ways. Since its still against federal law many law enforcement officials have chosen to not recognize the cards and the state won’t be there in court for you.

-The veterans administration will refuse services to disabled veterans and the card will not help you. We know people who have been refused services for using Marijuana even when the Veterans Administration said last year they wouldn’t do this, public campaign propaganda to convince the general public they are good hearted.

-Federally subsidized housing will kick you out. And your card will not help you. We know several people who have lost their housing or do not participate in the MMJ program because they cant afford for them and their families to be kicked out in the street.

-The card guarantees you will not be supplied fully, Since it handcuffs you too one source and no source is fool proof you will either not be provided for at times or you will go back to beaking the silly laws that don’t work. If you register with anyone a caregiver or a dispensary you CAN NOT grow your own legally. According to DHHS everytime you change a provider you pay another $300.00 or the provider pays. Its all about not letting you have freedom to have steady access in exchange for the state trying to micro manage diversion. And make revenues off you.

-The card ensures you will always be paying black market prices, The states obsession with dispensaries and curtailing the rights of caregivers will have the effect of keeping prices high, low supply with high demand is Drug War mentality and the state has chosen to keep this oppressive tactic in use against even sick and dying people. If the state continues to micro manage plants like they were nuclear devices the price will continue to stay at $400 per ounce like it was gold. This needs to stop and the cards and the state will do nothing to help.

-The card does not allow free access, there will be no coffee shops that cater to patients in Maine, in fact many towns are isolating the people that do dare to step forward even just as a caregiver to the fringes of town, and the towns once they know you exist and trust me the news will get spread about your most private garden, then the towns will want a cut of your profits as well. Profits the media claims are there but all of us in the industry know theres not much profit in a ‘not for profit’ business. And all expenses get passed to the grower because the patients cant afford it.

-The card DOES NOT allow for outside growing! You can not grow outside and use the free sun to grow your plants, they must be in an enclosed locked place in your home. So you cannot grow plants that are pounds, just plants that if your lucky will be ounces. The state in doing this made it so all product costs much more than it should cost, again drug war mentality, keep the price up, were still criminals you know.

Now with all of this said, Paul and I are registering with the state, and our patients who we care for are also going to register because right now that is the law, we are doing it under duress, we feel betrayed by our politicians, but at least now we know where we stand in this war.

We firmly support LD1296 that brings the peoples initiative back to the people and out of the hands of the state where it never should have been placed.

Maine Green Cross will continue to bring information to the people, and we are planning several great new pieces to point out to the people of Maine just how the state has pulled the rug over their eyes in the War on Drugs, aka ‘The War on American Citizens’.