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Voters in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington have legalized medicinal marijuana for the chronically ill. The Maine initiative, approved by voters in November, would allow patients to legally grow up to six plants for their own use. But even if the state approves it, those patients would still be breaking federal laws, and there'd no way for those who couldn't or didn't want to grow their own pot to get it legally.

So Maine's Legislature is pondering a bill that would let the state, instead of its sick citizens, take the legal risk. Sponsored by state Sen. Anne Rand, the bill would have the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency distribute confiscated plants to patients who were referred by their doctors and registered for the program.

The feds don't seem charmed by the idea. In a speech in California earlier this month, drug czar Barry McCaffrey called the medicinal marijuana movement "a crock."

But McCaffrey's position hasn't persuaded Sheriff Mark Dion of Maine to drop his support for the measure. By backing the initiative, Dion joined a "small fraternity" (as he described it to the New York Times) of law enforcement officers who have spoken out in favor of medicinal marijuana initiatives. Dion spoke with Salon by phone from his office in Cumberland County about what it means when the state breaks the law.

What does this bill aim to do?

The bill is asking the Maine Legislature to establish two things: one, a voluntary registry for identified and approved patients; and two, a process by which the state could provide either material or access to marijuana for the identified patients. That's the core of the bill.

Who would receive the marijuana?

Patients who had been referred by their doctors as a therapy of last resort.

The people of Maine voted and said listen, compassion and dignity outweigh prosecution, that if you suffer from certain identified illness[es] -- the wasting disease associated with AIDS, certain types of cancer, glaucoma under certain conditions, muscle spasticity from M.S. or other degenerative diseases -- then you ought to have access to marijuana, or at least your use of marijuana will not be considered a criminal act. With Rand's bill, it's simply saying, listen, the state drug enforcement agency, MDEA, seizes material -- is there a way that we could establish a pass-through? That's what's being debated right now in committee.

This is the first proposal of its kind in the nation, correct?

Yes, in terms of the state participating. The attorney general has elected, at the governor's direction, to form a task force where he's called a number of us to meet to look at these issues. We have some big ones to overcome.

One is, what's the federal response? It breaks federal law, and it would put police agents in an uncomfortable situation. And there's some risk associated with potential loss of federal revenues if the state does this. The state is certified by the U.S. attorney as meeting certain criteria in order to be eligible for its agencies, state, local or county, to receive federal funding. The U.S. attorney may not be able to certify us as drug-free if we're in the business of providing patients with marijuana. So there's a real legal issue there.

Whether [or not] we agree with the possibility or the appropriateness of that federal response, it does not diminish the fact that it does exist. My hope is to craft a strategy and a process that would satisfy the intent of the voters when they approved the referendum initiative and, at the same time, skirt the federal proscription.

What exactly was your role in the initiative?

I was approached by individuals associated with Mainers for Medical Rights and I agreed with them regarding the initiative. I've been speaking publicly in support of it. I think the notoriety that might have attached to my advocacy is due to the fact that I was the only law enforcement executive to support the initiative.

Next page | "I voted out of conscience"