Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a medical cannabis bill Friday that would allow doctors to certify patient use for any medical reason.
In a veto letter fired off late Friday afternoon, LePage, a staunch marijuana opponent, ticked off 11 reasons why he was vetoing the sweeping reform bill, ranging from complaints about the establishment of a medical marijuana research fund to licensing of dangerous extraction laboratories, noting his list of complaints was by no means exhaustive.
The reform bill, which was held over to last week’s special legislative session, was the Legislature’s bid to tackle longstanding problems in the medical use of marijuana program, which has undergone significant changes only twice since it was established in 1999. Maine has 42,000 certified medical marijuana patients.
The legislation would allow doctors to certify a patient to get a medical marijuana card for any therapeutic or palliative use that doctor deems appropriate. It effectively eliminates the state list of qualifying conditions – ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to AIDS and prolonged untreatable pain to Alzheimer’s disease – that must be met to get a medical card under current law.
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