BY DAVID HENCH

Portland Press Herald

The organization representing Maine police chiefs said Tuesday it opposes a ballot proposal to change the state's medical marijuana law and let nonprofit dispensaries distribute the drug to patients.

The Maine Chiefs of Police Association said it is opposing Question 5 on next week's ballot because the dispensaries wouldn't be adequately regulated and could encourage crime.

"I think people have sympathy for people who need this for medicinal purposes," said Robert Schwartz, executive director of the association. "The control of it, so it doesn't get into people's hands where it doesn't belong, is the concern of law enforcement."

Advocates for the change say that there is no evidence to support the chiefs' concerns about crime, and that the oversight to be provided by the Department of Health and Human Services has yet to be drafted.

The chiefs' concern about dispensaries "has to do with politics, not cold hard facts," said Jonathan Leavitt of Maine Citizens for Patients Rights. "It's the job of law enforcement to protect the public, not to stand in the way of giving sick people access to their medicine.

"We plan on going through a process of putting together solid oversight and regulation on this. Any concerns law enforcement has can be acknowledged, and if it makes sense, we anticipate that would be part of the regulation handed down," he said.

Supporters of the change released a poll showing it has broad support. The poll, by Pan Atlantic SMS Group for the Drug Policy Alliance, shows 60 percent of Mainers supporting or leaning toward supporting the measure, compared with 33 percent against or leaning against, and 7 percent undecided.

The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Patients with certain conditions, such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis, are allowed under current Maine law to have small amounts of marijuana to use for their treatment. They must grow their own or have someone who is a designated care-giver do it.

Supporters of Question 5 say it is impractical to require people who are sick and in severe pain to grow their own marijuana.

Several other states have legalized dispensaries, where marijuana can be grown and given to people who have prescriptions. Question 5 would allow the dispensaries in Maine.

The law also would expand the number of conditions for which the drug can be prescribed, including immune deficiency illnesses and seizure-inducing conditions.

The police chief's association board of directors voted Oct. 14 to take a position against the proposal.

The proposal lacks adequate oversight and doesn't provide for how excess marijuana would be handled, according to a release from the association.

In states where dispensaries have been authorized, including Rhode Island, Colorado and California, police report an increase in property and violent crime nearby, according to the release.

Schwartz said California has seen a proliferation of the dispensaries and this state's human services agency isn't prepared for the regulatory burden.

The association also opposes confidentiality provisions that it says would prevent police from learning the identity of care-givers when police believe they are engaged in drug trafficking.