A medical marijuana initiative could be headed for the November 2012 ballot in Massachusetts. An advocacy group called the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance announced Tuesday that it had filed an initiative petition that would allow seriously ill patients to register with the state and be protected from arrest for using marijuana as a medicine.
People with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other debilitating conditions could join a patient registry upon receiving a written recommendation from a physician. They would obtain their medicine from state-regulated nonprofit treatment centers. The state Department of Health would oversee the program.
The group handed in the 10 signatures needed to begin the petition process Tuesday, one day ahead of the August 3 deadline to make the 2012 ballot.
READ MORE: Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Initiative Filed
The Daily Chronic, August 3, 2011