Legislative Action: Nursing Home, Hospice, and Medical Marijuana

Special report by Michael Reynolds for Ability Maine

Contact your Representative and Senator today about legislation being
voted on soon at the Legislative Council
Appeals Meeting.

NOTE: The vote was originally scheduled for yesterday, November 21, but it was delayed, so you still have time to call!

Find out who your legislators are and how to contact them at:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/townlist.htm

If the legislator representing your town IS a member of the
Legislative Council,* it is very important that they hear directly
from you, their constituent, about how they plan to vote at the
November 21st Appeals meeting.

If your legislator IS NOT a member of the Legislative Council, ask
them to contact members of the Council about these bills before
November 21st.

Call your legislator (not too early or late in the day.)

If you can talk to your legislator in person that's even better.

If you are unable to speak to them directly, you can send an email,
facebook message, or text message to your Representative and Senator
and let them know:

1) Your name, your town, and briefly why this issue is important to you.

2) Ask your legislator to Support LR 2491, An Act Relating to Nursing
Home and Hospice Patients and Medical Marijuana Use.

This bill, sponsored by Senator Lachowicz of Waterville, would ensure
that patients in a hospice or nursing facility could safely access
doctor-recommended marijuana for medical use.

The legislation would not expand Maine's medical marijuana law. It
would not require a nursing facility to allow marijuana use, but it
would allow facilities the discretion on whether to and would not
allow smoking in nursing facilities.

It would restore the intent of Maine's patient-centered law that has
been in place since 1999, by removing unnecessary restrictions created
by DHHS rule changes in December 2012 that are preventing hospice and
nursing facilities from allowing medical use of marijuana in any form.


Before the Department changed its rules in 2012, a patient in a
facility was allowed to receive doctor-recommended marijuana for
medical use, in the form of tincture, edibles, inhaled through a
vaporizer, or in a medicated salve, to help with pain, nausea, sleep,
and other medical conditions. The rules have the greatest impact on
patients going through chemotherapy or in their last weeks of life.

The new rules require the hospice or nursing facility to register with
the State as a medical marijuana caregiver, which threatens their
ability to receive federal funding.

One of the most critical needs of the Maine medical marijuana
community is to ensure access to people going through chemotherapy and
those at the end of life.

Patients in Maine hospice and nursing facilities have been allowed to
access medical marijuana since 1999, when Maine's first medical
marijuana law was enacted.

From the beginning, these patients have been the backbone of Maine's
medical marijuana legislative heritage.

The bill will ensure that nursing facilities can safely ensure that
patients who are in the most pain and most in need of the benefits of
marijuana for medical use are able to access their doctor-recommended
medicine.

3) Ask your legislator to Oppose LR 2329, An Act To Align Maine's
Marijuana Laws with the Guidelines Governing Taxation and Regulation
Issued by the Federal Government.

This bill, sponsored by Representative Russell of Portland, closely
resembles last year's bill to allow large-scale commercial marijuana
businesses by creating a costly new regulatory system that favors
large out-of-state investors at the expense of local caregivers.


The new bill would increase spending on unnecessary enforcement
schemes and is being rushed for approval without key stakeholder
input.

LD 2329 does not providing needed protections for Maine small
businesses or for those people who will continue to face criminal
charges for growing and using marijuana. Time is needed to develop a
good law that generates revenue for the state and benefits as many
Maine people as possible.

4) Thank your Representative or Senator for their time, and let them
know you'll be voting for candidates who support medical marijuana
patients and caregivers in the November 2014 elections.

For more information on these bills, check out: www.mmcmonline.org

It's especially important if your Representative or Senator is a
member of the Legislative Council, it is especially important that
they hear from you, their constituent.

*The Legislative Council is:

Speaker Mark Eves (North Berwick): 287-1300 / RepMark.Eves@legislature.maine.gov

President Justin Alfond (Portland): 287-1500 / justin@justinalfond.com

Senator Troy Jackson (Allagash): 287-1515 /
SenTroy.Jackson@legislature.maine.gov

Senator Anne Haskell (Portland/Westbrook): 287-1515 / annehask@maine.rr.com

Senator Michael Thibodeau (Winterport): 223-5177 / senatorthibodeau@aol.com

Senator Roger Katz (Augusta): (207) 287-1505 /
SenRoger.Katz@legislature.maine.gov

Representative Seth Berry (Bowdoinham): 287-1430 /
RepSeth.Berry@legislature.maine.gov

Representative Jeffrey McCabe (Skowhegan): 287-1430 /
RepJeff.McCabe@legislature.maine.gov

Representative Ken Fredette (Newport): 287-1440 /

RepKenneth.Fredette@legislature.maine.gov

Representative Alexander Willette (Mapleton): 764-4600 /
alexander.willette@gmail.com

More information and contacts for the Council members at:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/execdir/Member%20Profiles.htm

Panel on Maine's Mental Health System Focuses on "Public Safety"

by Sharon Wachsler

Last night a panel was held at the University of Maine, Augusta, on the state's mental health system. According to an October 31, Sentinel article by Susan McMillan, the scheduled facilitator was Senator Roger Katz of Augusta, and the event was spurred by an incident at Riverview Psychiatric Center:

...where a patient seriously injured an employee in the spring. The hospital, which is the state’s only mental health facility for patients who commit crimes, stands to lose an estimated $20 million in federal funding because of problems with governance, overcrowding and safety.

Panelists include various government and agency representatives and administrators, along with Helen Bailey of the Maine Disability Rights Center. Conspicuously lacking in the lineup were panelists who are consumers of the mental health system, themselves.

Overall, the article -- and seemingly the panel -- focuses on mental illness as a public safety concern. This fearmongering that people with mental illness are dangerous is in direct conflict with the data which show that people with mental health issues are no more likely to commit violent crimes than those with no diagnosed mental illness, and that people with psychiatric diagnoses are, in fact, much more likely to be victims of violence.

I could not find any articles about the panel after the fact. It is to be hoped that stereotyping and fearmongering did not carry the day. (If you attended or participated in the panel or have a link to an article reporting on the panel, please comment or drop us a line.)

Environmental Health Strategy Center Aims to Protect Maine Families from Toxic Chemicals

The Environmental Health Strategy Center is working on several initiatives right now to protect children and adults from toxic chemicals in everyday products and is seeking citizen action to help get the message across to state lawmakers. The two bills of greatest urgency are LD 902 and LD 1181. Both concern a chemical called BPA, which scientists have linked to breast cancer and a higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and liver abnormalities in adults as well as brain and hormone development problems in fetuses and young children. A new study also shows a strong connection between BPA levels and childhood asthma.

According to EHSC:

LD 902 would phase out BPA from infant and baby food packaging – a proposal that Maine moms brought to the State by gathering over 800 signatures last year. (Take action on LD 902 here.)

LD 1181, "An Act to Further Protect Pregnant Women and Children from Toxic Chemicals," will identify which products contain the 49 worst chemicals associated with cancer other illnesses, and take action to get those chemicals out of household products that Maine children encounter every day. The bill would also remove a loophole currently blocking protection from BPA in food packaging for kids and adults.   (Take action on the Healthy Kids Bill here.)

Attending a public hearing is also a big boost to these efforts, whether speaking or just helping to "pack the room and demonstrate solidarity."

The BPA hearing on LD 902 is on Wednesday, April 10, at 1 p.m. The Safer Products hearing on LD 1181 is on Thursday, April 11, at 1 p.m. (RSVP here.)

April 11 is also Safer Products Healthy Kids Day, starting at 8:00 a.m. at the Maine State House and continuing through the public hearing that afternoon. "Nothing is more effective for moving lawmakers into action than face-to-face conversations with constituents who really care about getting toxic chemicals away from our kids," says EHSC.

Find out more about getting involved at preventharm.org, including a clean technology event, Plants to Products: Maine’s Bio-based Products Forum, co-orga2nized with the Sustainable Bioplastics Council of Maine. The forum is Thursday, October 17, 2013, at the University of Maine, Orono.
 

1/28/13: Please Testify on Cuts to DEL & General Assistance

This announcement is from Chris Rusnov of Maine Equal Justice and Larry Dansinger of Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC). Please share widely (and quickly, if possible), and feel free to cross-post.

There is a public hearing on the Supplemental Budget to deal with the 2013 budget deficit. It will take place on Monday, Jan. 28 before the Appropriations Committee in room 228 of the State House. The governor proposes to eliminate the Drugs for the Elderly and Disabled program (DEL) and to reduce General Assistance spending by half. The committee will hear testimony on DEL at 10:00am and on General Assistance at 1:00pm. 

Please help identify people who might be affected by these cuts. It is critical to help legislators understand how these cuts will affect people served by these programs. We are looking for any senior or person with disabilities who gets help paying for their prescription medicines through DEL, and any individual or family who has received help from General Assistance in the past year (especially great if help from GA enabled them to continue working or prevented homelessness). 

Once you have identified a person, ask them to call me or get their permission for me to call them. I will talk with them to make sure they will be affected, and if they agree, will help them write down their story. 

With your help, we may be able to stop these cuts. 

Chris Rusnov
Maine Equal Justice
126 Sewall St., Augusta 04330
207-626-7058 ext 204
1-866-626-7059 ext 204

Study of Maine Workers with Disabilities Released

A recently released report by the Maine Department of Labor offers insight into the state of employment and disability in Maine, according to a press release by the LePage administration.

October is national “Disability Employment Awareness Month,” and in response, Maine's DHHS and BRS have released Snapshot 2012: Maine Workers with Disabilities. The document

. . . presents an overview of employment status and services for people with disabilities in Maine. It illustrates the types of challenges facing individuals with disabilities who are interested in entering or re-entering the workforce and the importance of support services.

Some notable stats from the snapshot:

• More people in Maine are disabled -- 16 percent versus a national average of 12 percent, while 13 percent of working-age adults have a disability
• Maine has the fourth-highest percentage of veterans in the nation, and on average, the rate of disability among veterans is higher than among non-veterans, which likely accounts for some of the high rate of disability in Maine.
• The unemployment rate of disabled Mainers is almost three times higher (17 percent) than the rate of unemployment of nondisabled Mainers (6 percent)
• Forty percent of disabled Mainers are working
• Of that 40 percent, most are still underemployed: Only 45 percent of disabled working Mainers have full-time, year-round jobs (compared with 62 percent of nondisabled workers)

The press release indicates that the report is intended to improve employment among people with disabilities in Maine:

Commissioner of Labor Jeanne Paquette described the importance of raising awareness of the employment needs of people with disabilities. “Employers need to learn about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Their presence in the workplace sends an important and positive message to customers, and the contributions they make each day are significant.” She added, “With an aging population, Maine will continue to have a need to connect these workers with good jobs.” 

The Bureau of Rehabilitation Services of the Maine Department of Labor provides a variety of services to help people with severe disabilities get or keep a job. These services include job development and placement, job training and rehabilitation technology. In fiscal year 2011, 816 people with significant disabilities entered competitive employment and stayed employed for a minimum of 90 days after receiving BRS services. 

Several factors influence rates of disability, including general health, social environment, economic conditions, demographic trends, environmental factors, social mores and financial incentives. Another contributing factor is the number of Maine residents who are veterans.

Snapshot 2012 was funded by a federal Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) awarded to DHHS by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The purpose of the MIG grant is to improve competitive employment opportunities for people with disabilities in their communities.

Individuals with disabilities bring strength and diversity to Maine's workforce. Employers interested in hiring people with disabilities or individuals with a disability interested in learning about vocational rehabilitation should contact visit the Employment for Maine website or call the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services at (207) 623-6799.

The complete report can be found on the webpage of the Center for Workforce Research and Information, which compiled the data.