Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., visited Maine last week, where he addressed about 100 people at an “expo” for legal cannabis growers in support of approving marijuana for recreational use.

In a story headlined, “Cannabis battle is winnable, expo told,” Frank was quoted as saying, “People who make a personal decision to smoke marijuana should not be subject to prosecution. This is the kind of fight that’s worth winning. It’s winnable.”

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Mainers have given their approval to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but they have never said at any time that cannabis should be decriminalized. 2010 Press Herald file

Now, it’s not clear how many Maine residents were aware that there was a “fight” going on over marijuana legalization. Maine voters gave their approval to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in a 1999 referendum, and 10 years later approved the establishment of dispensaries as one option for offering the drug to those whose medical condition required it, according to their physicians.

But they have never said at any time that cannabis should be decriminalized, and even if they had, the drug would remain illegal under federal laws.

It’s exactly this sort of rhetoric that convinces some people that the effort to provide pain relief for people with cancer and other serious diseases and conditions is actually a cover for the activists’ real goal: legalization for recreational use.

There’s no good reason to conclude that is true — yet — but Mainers can’t be blamed for being suspicious.

And if that suspicion became widespread, to the point where it interfered with the provision of cannabis for medical purposes, that would truly be unfortunate.

Frank, who had also stopped in Ogunquit to celebrate the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t policy” on gays in the service, said in Portland that the “evolution” of social attitudes that decision revealed would also lead to the “substantial” legalization of marijuana within the next decade.

Time will tell if that is true. Right now, however, Frank is fighting over an issue that Mainers to date have made a clear decision about: medical marijuana, yes; legalized pot, no.

It’s hard to have a “battle” when one side has already declared the discussion over. Frank and those who agree with him should start making their case to highly skeptical Mainers before declaring their nonexistent victory is inevitable.

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