In opposing the creation of medical marijuana dispensaries based on Maine's experience with methadone clinics, the Sun Journal compared apples and oranges. Let's take a look.

As we know, methadone is a highly addictive synthetic drug with horrendous side effects that is frequently lethal when it is abused. Opiate addiction is a horrendous disease which causes people to commit desperate acts to get their next fix — be it of heroin, methadone, or OxyContin. And as Maine's tragic experience with OxyContin demonstrates, putting opiates in pharmacies does not prevent the crimes connected with addiction.

Marijuana is a medicinal plant that has been used safely by people around the world for thousands of years. There is no such thing as a lethal dose and it is not physically addictive. In fact, it is far safer than most prescription or over-the-counter drugs now sold at pharmacies. And nobody robs homes or liquor stores or robs people at gunpoint to pay for a marijuana habit.

But patients with serious illnesses who use marijuana medicinally and often already have compromised immune systems need guarantees regarding the source, growing methods, quality and strain of their medicine.

It would be great if pharmacies would step up and offer to provide patients with a safe and reliable source of medical marijuana. But under current federal regulations they can't do that. So we need to create another system of distribution — Question 5 creates that system by allowing the establishment of nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries.

In writing the law, we have been careful to make sure that there is no room for abuse and to give cities and towns ways to address any valid concerns they might have about welcoming dispensaries into their communities.

Dispensaries would be required to keep marijuana in a locked facility, dispense it only to qualified patients with a voluntary identification card from the Department of Health and Human Services, and supply the state with detailed records of every transaction. Those caught giving or selling marijuana to people who weren't qualified patients would be subject to prosecution under state and federal drug-trafficking laws.

Concerns about the impact of a dispensary on traffic or on the character of a neighborhood can be addressed through the local zoning process — under the law, municipal governments will have broad discretion over the siting of dispensaries.

There is no legitimate reason to continue denying patients with diseases like cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis access to medicine that can ease their suffering.

Question 5 provides that access in a safe and responsible way.

Jonathan Leavitt, Sumner

Coordinator, Maine Citizens for Patients Rights