Maine Votes to Legalize Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

post from TalkLeft on 04 November 2009 12:57:00 AM. © TalkLeft

Maine is now the third state to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries.

In a landmark vote, Maine voters today approved Question 5, making the state the third in the country to license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and the first ever to do so by a vote of the people.

...Under the measure, the state will license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and set rules for their operation. While 13 states permit medical use of marijuana, only Rhode Island and New Mexico have similar dispensary provisions, both of which were adopted by the states’ legislatures....Question 5 also expands the list of medical conditions qualifying for protection under Maine’s law to include several conditions that are included in most other medical marijuana states, including intractable pain, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”).

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Maine is the first state in the country where voters, as opposed to a legislature, approved licensed dispensaries. But, why should they have to be non-profit? Pharmacies and drug companies make money. If Endo, the maker of Percodan, which is illegal to possess without a prescription, can make a profit, shouldn't medical marijuana providers/growers also be allowed to make money?