With all the flailing arms and jerking knees over the medical marijuana "issue," I wanted to sit down and see if I could put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. Once I put a little thought into it, here's what I came up with. I should clarify that it seems complete legalization would resolve a lot of issues, however the following solutions are to address current existing issues in certain states with medical marijuana.
Treat medical marijuana no differently than any other medical treatment.
Expect no less from a medical marijuana doctor in regard to record keeping than any other doctor who prescribes pharmaceuticals.
If someone with a permit is caught selling their medicine to someone without a permit, prosecute them the same as anyone selling pharmaceuticals. The vital part of this is prosecuting those with permits who sell their medicine illegally harder than those without permits. It wouldn’t behoove anyone to involve themselves with the permit program if their intent was to illegally distribute marijuana, because they would face a much harsher penalty than if they just stayed out of the program all together.
If a medical marijuana doctor is caught not keeping appropriate records they should be punished in the same venue as any other doctor who does the same thing.
Require all dispensaries maintain accurate records of all necessary paperwork needed to legally sell cannabis to patients. I’ve personally seen dispensary owners take partial paperwork from patients who said had never been there before. Audit the dispensaries regularly, and do stings like they do for selling alcohol to underage people. Fine them $10,000 for the first infraction, and shut them down after the second.
Allow the same number of dispensaries in any given area as pharmacies are allowed, and require dispensaries and pharmacies to operate under the same standards. No neon signs; at least 500 feet from any school, playground, park, or facility where vulnerable children frequent. There’s a Walgreen’s sign in our neighborhood that lights up the night sky worse than the Qwest sign in downtown Denver, and I am not exactly thrilled to see so many pharmacies everywhere only to be constantly reminded of the place that sold me the drugs that nearly killed me. I get that pharmacies serve a purpose though, and would never ask for their removal due to my own discomfort.
Free enterprise and healthy competition: Do not require that any dispensary operate as a non-profit as long as pharmacies continue to operate profitably. If there is fair market competition the patients will not be required to spend so much more money on medical marijuana than pharmaceuticals. The dispensaries that don’t compete will be weeded out. Since this is all about the patients, a little competition shouldn’t be an issue for anyone if it makes the medicine more accessible to those in need.
Confirming a patient should be no different than verifying their driver’s license and running that patient’s private ID number through a database to verify the permit. It would all be done on the same computers located in police cars, and through the same type of secure database used to house driving records. The number would be on a card with the person’s name. Whether the card is valid or reported stolen is the only information that should be available through the DB.
In regard to law enforcement and prisoners, medical cannabis shall be treated no differently than any other medication, and shall not be withheld from a patient as part of their punishment. It is cruel and unusual punishment to deny a patient effective healthcare. If the only thing that works for a prisoner is medical marijuana, and that person has been evaluated for the drug previous to incarceration, they should continue to have the same access to healthcare. Any other prisoner who was being treated for an illness previous to incarceration would not be rightfully denied effective medical care while in custody, so there shall be no discrimination of types of treatments as acceptable or not if they fall within the law of that jurisdiction. The cannabis should be administered under the same protocol as any pharmaceutical.
If you haven’t noticed a pattern here, it’s that the only way to make progress with any of this is to use the resources we already have to address the issues that have come up. Treat cannabis no differently than any other medical treatment or any other business. Keeping it all in context is what seems to be tripping people up.
Coming from a patient, medical cannabis is no different than any other drug my doctor might give me. The only difference is that marijuana actually works for me when the pills destroyed my ability to function and maintain my part in society. The fact that marijuana helps me doesn’t make me a different person. I wasn’t a criminal before, and it doesn’t seem to be turning me into one now. I still have great pride in my state, and faith in the people of this country to stand up for the right thing; even when our government can’t seem to find their way out of the antiquated beaurocracy that is preventing us from moving forward.
Comments
I completely agree with you. Of course, a lot of these issues could be alleviated with legalization and regulation of marijuana... if this were to happen, there would be medical dispensaries selling specific products for medicinal users and medical-grade, more expensive cannabis--which means it would have to meet certain FDA criteria to be classified as such, differentiating it from other marijuana that may be sold legally.
Here you have a situation almost like alcohol-there are both recreational and medicinal uses (although there is far less medical benefit from alcohol). Products like NyQuil and mouthwash have an alcohol content and are sold over the counter.
That raises the question of the edible aspect. Alcohol is present over the counter in things like vanilla extract and cooking wine. I'd love to see products like cannaoil or cannabutter on the shelf for cooking... that would also benefit the medical users, because eating it reduces some of the health risks.
Hi Jillian-
I agree that all this could be resolved by simply legalizing, and setting up separate systems for recreational and medical use. For instance, no tax on medical use, and tax the rec stuff.
I would love to be able to grab some cannaoil while I am picking up my groceries, instead of driving everywhere to find a place that has it. Hopefully, we will soon be able to come to a viable solution to our financial despair with this incredible commodity.
Angela
Just legalize marijuana. It's the only sane course of action.
How 'bout everyone just grow their own and forget all the bull$#!+.
I think it's important to keep in mind that while the majority of the population might agree with medical marijuana, there are still those who don't. To ignore their fears and ideas, no matter how wrong they are, is the same thing we accuse them of doing.
Regardless if marijuana is legalized or it's medical marijuana we are talking about (which was the focus of this article), regulations make some people more comfortable. Do I care about regulations? No, I think it's a farce we sell ourselves on. However, my ideology is not that of every person on the planet. Some people can only wrap their minds around something if it fits into their quantifiable world. With competent problem solving we can all find a common ground. Common ground isn't all our fantasy worlds, and that is important to remember.
Angela
Hi Angela.
As always, your prose makes terrific sense.
I did want to add to this a bit. And a lot of folks will be interested in this line of thinking.
What about poor (sick) folks ??
Who is helping them to afford medical cannabis ?? No one, except for a very few compassionate providers. My provider supplies medical grade (SensiStar, Shaman, Bubblegum, etc.) for as little as 100 per oz. AND he delivers- for free.
...and.. that's expensive for me. I only get 985 per month on a pension. I am not able to work, so my income is very fixed. Unfortunately my expenses are not fixed...
I would hope that your plan could (or would) have provisions for those folks who fall through the cracks. I can get opiates (on demand) for free at the VA Hospital. But I gotta have cash for the bud that works so much better than the opiates.
(I have severe peripheral neuropathy).
Just a thought. I love my green medicine, but it's a struggle to afford. (oh, yeah-- growing is not an options f
Hey Jillian-
oh, wouldn't it be fun to see the edible "goodies" at Trader Joe's ?? LOL... maybe someday....
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