Pubdate: Tue, 24 Aug 2010
Source: Ravalli Republic (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Ravalli Republic
Contact:  http://www.ravallirepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3254
Author: Jeff Schmerker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

SHOCKLEY: REPEAL POT LAW, REPLACE IT

Sen. Jim Shockley said Monday he'd support and even sponsor a bill 
aimed at overturning Montana's current medical marijuana laws and 
then help initiate a ground-up rewrite.

The Victor Republican who worked in opposition to the 2004 
legalization of medical marijuana said he's not against medical 
marijuana, however.

"I'm a convert," he said. "There is no doubt marijuana has medical benefits."

But while medical marijuana works, he said, Montana's law authorizing 
its use doesn't and is too flawed to simply fix.

"Really, basically, it is out of control," he said.

Shockley, speaking to the Hamilton Rotary Club Monday afternoon, said 
he hopes the Legislature this year will overturn the current law, 
grandfather current use for the time being, and then craft three 
separate bills aimed at oversight of specific areas of medical 
marijuana use - production, distribution and authorization.

Shockley said he would support narrowing the state's current 3,000 
marijuana producers down to a much smaller number - perhaps 50 - and 
then having the grown product sent to one of a handful of state 
distribution centers. Those centers would then send the product to 
city or county outlets in much the same way some states do with 
liquor. He'd also support tightening the ways in which patients can 
get medical marijuana authorization cards - no more pot for a 
sprained ankle, he suggested - and streamline the patient 
authorization card process by allowing individual doctors to simply 
prescribe the product to their patients instead of having patients 
take a doctor's authorization to the state for final approval. 
Finally, he'd hope for a more comprehensive dosage analysis so 
doctors and patients better understand how specific doses produce 
specific results.

"Right now there is absolutely no control and that is how it was 
designed," Shockley said. "It's a legal way for a lot of people to 
get marijuana."

Not so fast, said Dr. Chris Christensen, a Victor family practice 
doctor who said in four years he's issued 3,500 medical marijuana 
certifications.

The current law is not flawed, he said - it's simply not being 
enforced the way it was written.

"If physicians are not held to an ethical standard, what do you 
expect?" he said.

The state's standards of care are not being followed, he said, and 
there is no disciplinary oversight. Good rules are in place - doctors 
must take a patient history, discuss advantages and disadvantages of 
marijuana, and monitor the response to treatment - and replacing 
those with new ones is not necessary, Christensen said.

"Most of the patients I see are over 35, but a handful are under 18," 
he said. "The numbers are clear - there are between 40 million and 70 
million Americans living with chronic pain. You can not put this in 
the hands of a small number of doctors."

Currently, there are about 24,000 medical marijuana cardholders in 
Montana - and bet on that number to grow.

"I get referrals from doctors who won't write authorizations - and 
from the Veterans Administration," Christensen said. "I saw 29 
patients on Saturday."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom