LEWISTON (Sun Journal) -- A new coalition aimed at defeating a November ballot question that will ask Maine voters to make marijuana legal for recreational use is growing, according to a release from a coalition leader Tuesday.

Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities includes parents, health experts, clergy and police, said Scott Gagnon, the coalition's spokesman and chairman of Smart Approaches To Marijuana, which previously worked to successfully defeat a Lewiston ballot question to legalize marijuana in that city.

Caregivers in Maine want to give medical marijuana a try.

Can you treat a drug addiction with another drug? Many medical cannabis patients in recovery, as well as their caregivers, think it’s possible. 

Studies have already shown a decrease in opioid overdose deaths in states where medical cannabis has been legalized. On a more personal level, it’s showing unprecedented potential as an alternative treatment option for addiction to opioids, like heroin and prescription pain pills.

A poll was recently released which found that 55% of polled Maine voters support marijuana legalization. That’s a similar result to other polls I have seen out of Maine. That’s good right? Especially considering that marijuana legalization is going to be on the ballot in Maine in November. Not according to marijuana opponents. When the recent poll results were released by Critical Insights, Scott Gagnon of Project Sam had the following to say, per Bangor Daily News:

Voters will soon be deciding if recreational or medical marijuana is right for their state.

This could be a transformative year in more ways than one. Not only are voters heading to the polls in six months to decide who should become the next President of the United States of America, but voters in quite a few states could be heading to their respective state polls to decide whether or not to expand the use of medical or recreational marijuana within their state.

 Despite what you've read in the news, marijuana legalization in Vermont isn't dead. Yes, the House defeated a Senate bill that would have legalized recreational marijuana use. But that setback hasn't derailed the movement. 

"Definitely the best is yet to come," Matt Simon - New England Political Director of the Marijuana Policy Project - told Civilized. "I hate losing but we're not losing. We're on the way to marijuana being legal across New England in the next two to three years."

Here's why Simon is so positive.

A Lewiston business owners wants to open a cannabis club for medical marijuana patients, but city officials say it's not legal.

Shanon Gogan said her cannabis club is not a nightclub, but a small room with a table and eight chairs.

"We are going to check their medical card before they come back here to make sure they are legal and legit to use their medicine," Gogan said.

Gogan and her husband, Vincent Gogan, are medical marijuana patients. Vincent Gogan is a licensed caregiver.

The couple owns Legal Peaces smoke shop on Lisbon Street.

Last week, this column was pretty pessimistic. Apologies, but when a state in my own beloved Northeast decides to put the kibosh on a law that would reduce the number of prisoners in their jails in and increase the amount of tax dollars in its coffers, it grates at the nerves. New Hampshire did it, and Vermont did too, but to the East, Maine has given New England a new hope for legalization. 

The amount of patients who claim that marijuana has helped them kick their addictions to painkillers, and even heroin, is on the rise and may soon be legitimized. The state of Maine is currently on the fast track to becoming the first state to make an addiction to opioid prescriptions and certain illegal narcotics such as heroin a qualifier for obtaining medical marijuana.

Last month almost 30 caregivers and patients who use medical marijuana went to a public hearing where they told state regulators that using marijuana was a great ease to the symptoms they suffered during opioid withdrawal. The proponents for medical marijuana use also stated that the plant offered them a healthier alternative to using prescription painkillers and possibly becoming addicted to those drugs.

After significant controversy regarding the validity of signatures in a petition drive, officials announced on Wednesday that the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol had garnered enough signatures to place the initiative on the ballot this November. If the ballot initiative passes, Maine would become the sixth state (following Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and Alaska) to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

On Tuesday, Maine will be the first state to formally consider the idea, even though the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illicit drug.

Medical marijuana caregivers and patients will ask state regulators Tuesday to consider adding opiate addiction as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana.

Maine will be the first state to formally consider allowing medical marijuana to be used as treatment for addiction to opiates and other drugs derived from chemical synthesis, said Dawson Julia, a caregiver from Unity who submitted a petition to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to request the public hearing.