Maine DHHS Rule-Making Completed

For anyone that is interested, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has completed rule-making and issued it's "rules" for medical marijauan patients in Maine.

Fee's; Patients $100, Caregivers $300 per patient, Dispensaries $15,000

Eight dispensaries within the state, more later if needed.

Six plants per patient. Plants being female in flower larger than 12" tall or 12" wide.

Inspection of caregiver grow sites if they have 3 or more patients.

Out of state card holders can use their meds in Maine for 30 days while on vacation or travelling, however they cannot purchase from caregivers or dispensaries while here.

They removed all wording associated with unregistered patients or qualified patients. All patients that had doctors recommendations will have until January 1st, 2011 to become registered or their note becomes worthless. They are trying to force everyone to become registered and trying hard to funnel all patients to dispensaries by charging $300 for each patient a caregiver has.

Overall the Bill and the rules suck! All politicians lie and cannot be trusted, I don't care what party they belong to they are all liars and should be removed from office. We had a caregiver law on the books for ten years and no one has ever been charged as a caregiver with any crime, yet we now need to enter someones house to inspect them? Fuck DHHS!

Fee's; Patients $100, Caregivers $300 per patient

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unconstitutional IMO!! First of all DHHS should have NO authority in this what-so-ever. tthey are NOT lawmakers, nor are they a part of our government.
Patients already payed when they were at their doctors appointments.
As a care-giver, I don't charge my patients for their meds. Thats one reason they want me instead of a dispensary. I don't see any reason why DHHS should charge me if i'm non-profit.I think $400.00 a year per patient pretty goddem steep. Charge the big Dispensarys like they do with tob/alc, but leave the little fellas alone. They don't charge someone who owns a beer making kit.

Don't we even have a voice in this?

Yes we have a voice, it just isn't heard by those that really matter. Like I said in another post, i was speptical; this is exactly what I was skeptical of. This is the first step in what i saw as the problem developing.

With only 8 dispensaries and charging those dispensaries $15,000, there will be NO competition The people that actually CARE are being pushed aside, the dispensaries will be big $ projects that will have a small market for a while (until enough patients can find doctors willing to sign the form). By imposing the fees that high for caregivers they are also squeezing the people that care. So I now have to shell out $1200 a year to provide for myself and 3 others and also have to deal with DHHS inspections?

Im all set, I'll stay low key and "in the closet" until the laws are somewhat bearable and realistic. Its a shame, seems like people worked pretty hard to get the law passed, why weren't they kicking and screaming while the intent of the law got raped?

at least your getting dispensaries that are guaranteed not getting shut down.

but holy fuck 300 a patient for cg? thats redic. in michigan the cg pays 0

There is a strong grassroots effort under way to keep patients and caregivers from registering until the law is changed. I have a business owner as a patient that does not want his name on some list to be used by who knows, others simply refuse to provide DHHS with a letter from their physician describing a; your medical condition, specifically what you have and b; the time your physician estimates you will need to use medical marijuana to treat your condition c; they want treatment records, visits and procedures tried. Can anyone say BS! First off, the medical information violates a patients HIPPA privacy rights, many lawsuits are being filed, hopefully they will remove any references to medical condition.

A patient should be able to simply provide the doctor recommendation as required to register if they choose. Patients that request to stay below the radar should still retain unregistered status, but according to the new law, everyone has until Jan 1st, 2011 to become registered or loose their patient status and who knows what that will open you up to. DHHS is claiming that if you are not registered in Maine than you will not be protected period.

did any of you attend the meeting about this at the state house today? I went with my fiance, our caregivers: kirsten's compassion, along with a lot of other local caregivers and patients.

Couldnt be there, summer is here and I work 60+ hours a week......anything happen at the meeting?

Yes, I went representing my caregiver group, Maine Grass Roots.

I am still not clear on seedings/vegging or mother plants status of this "ruling"...how many immature plants are we allowed to have? Right now, I have 2 mature plants per patient, i have 4 patients....but I have a perpetual grow that flips every 3 weeks, meaning for each patient I have 2 plants at 3 weeks, 2 plants at 6 weeks, and 2 plants at 9 weeks-take down time...but I have no clue how many non- budding plants I can have. I like to vegg them up to at least 2 feet tall before I flip.
if i'm reading this right, I can have as many non-budding plants as I want, regardless of size...

And what do they consider mature plants? Full term plants or anything with a bud on them regardless of what week they are in?

Hi Seasmoke, In Maine a medical Marijuana plant is considered 12" tall and or wide, if you are a legal grower of course. That means you pretty much have to force flower a little sooner than you might want to. I am assuming clones and seedlings don't count as they are under 12"....hopefully. With some creative LST and or topping you can have some fun with keeping it under 12" in veg mode and have it explode for flowering. Maine laws are set up where a SCROG method is one of the most productive ways to get a lot from the few we are allowed to grow.