AUGUSTA, Maine — State lawmakers in Maine are weighing a proposal that would prevent hospitals from removing people from organ transplant wait lists for using medical marijuana.
Garry Godfrey, who suffers from a hereditary disease that causes kidney failure, was taken off the kidney transplant registry in 2012 for using medical marijuana as a pain reliever.
At Maine Medical Center, the state’s only transplant center, candidates cannot use marijuana due to the risk of an invasive fungal infection.
The program tells the Portland Press Herald it wants to provide treatment based on “safe, evidence-based practices.”
Godfrey told lawmakers this week marijuana allowed him to function day-to-day and care for his family.
Republican Rep. Deborah Sanderson has asked hospitals to look into whether there’s a way would-be transplant recipients could take medical marijuana.
