PORTLAND, Maine - Voters in Maine have approved the use of marijuana in treating certain medical ailments.

The citizen initiative asked voters: "Do you want to allow patients with

specific illnesses to grow and use small amounts of marijuana for

treatment, as long as such use is approved by a doctor?"

Question 2, similar to legislation enacted in several other states, was

designed to authorize possession of marijuana for specific medical

conditions when patients are advised by a doctor they might benefit from

the drug.

The list of qualifying ailments includes persistent nausea, vomiting, loss

of appetite from AIDS or cancer treatments, glaucoma, and seizures or

muscle spasms from chronic diseases, such as epilepsy or multiple sclerosis.

MAINERS STRONGLY SUPPORT ALLOWING MARIJUANA TO BE USED FOR MEDICAL REASONS

Rejecting the concerns of doctors, police and prosecutors, Mainers went to the polls Tuesday and just said yes to medical marijuana.

Question 2, which legalizes the use of small amounts of marijuana for

medicinal purposes, passed by a large margin. With 88 percent precincts

reporting, 61 percent of voters agreed that Mainers suffering from certain

medical conditions should be allowed to buy, grow and use the drug to

alleviate their symptoms without fear of prosecution.

Thirty-nine percent of Mainers voted against the law.

Mainers for Medical Rights, the group behind the referendum, said the vote sends a strong message favoring "compassionate and common sense" use of medical marijuana.

MARIJUANA MEDICAL USE IS AHEAD IN EARLY RETURNS

AUGUSTA, Maine - After a lopsided campaign in which proponents raised

and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and opponents made their

case mainly by word of mouth, early returns showed Maine voters

supporting a proposal to legalize marijuana for certain medicinal uses.

With 124 of 664 precincts reporting, unofficial returns produced a

majority favoring passage of 61 percent to 39 percent.

The unofficial raw vote from the first 19 percent of precincts was

48,335 in favor of the measure and 30,483 against.

Voter approval would mean that the proposed legislation could take

effect within 60 days.

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