Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2012
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Bay Area News Group
Contact: http://www.insidebayarea.com/feedback/tribune
Website: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author: Tammerlin Drummond

DISHONESTY IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE

There has been high drama in the debate over medical marijuana ever 
since federal authorities began cracking down on California's pot 
dispensaries last October.

Last week when federal authorities announced that they were filing 
forfeiture lawsuits to seize the property that houses Harborside 
Health Center in Oakland and San Jose, the operators of the cannabis 
dispensary featured on the reality TV show "Weed Wars," held a news conference.

The star of the event was Jason David who appeared in one of the 
"Weed Wars" episodes. David got teary as he talked about how medical 
marijuana had made such a difference in the life of his 5-year-old 
son who suffers from seizures. Thanks to medical marijuana, he said 
his son had gone from needing two dozen pills a day to four. "After 
he had medical cannabis, it was the first time he went seizure free," 
David said. "Imagine your kids having seizures every day, being in 
pain for hours crying and screaming."

David's son is exactly the type of person whom the medical marijuana 
law -- the 1996 Compassionate Use Act -- was designed to help. 
Seriously ill people for whom marijuana helps to alleviate pain and 
other debilitating symptoms. I had a family member with cancer who 
suffered from terrible nausea while she was undergoing chemotherapy. 
Marijuana helped to restore her appetite so she could eat -- unlike 
other drugs prescribed by her doctors which didn't work. I don't have 
to be convinced that marijuana

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should be legally available for really sick people.

However, there are many, many people abusing the law. They have 
gotten medical marijuana cards based on phony illnesses thanks to 
doctors throughout the state who dole out prescriptions to pretty 
much anyone who wants one. Medical marijuana is a hugely lucrative 
industry -- not because there are so many sick people in California 
but because medical marijuana mills will give a person a prescription 
no questions asked.

Last September, during the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in 
downtown Oakland, vendors were brazenly selling 50 percent off 
coupons for quickie medical marijuana "exams" on the corner for 
anyone who didn't already have a medical marijuana card and wanted to 
join the pot-smoking festivities steps from City Hall.

There is no central database to track the doctors writing 
prescriptions nor the patients receiving them. The state marijuana 
policy is little more than very poorly disguised de facto legalization.

The vague language of the medical marijuana law left open the door for abuses.

It says that doctors and osteopaths (practitioners of alternative 
medicine) can prescribe marijuana for any illness "for which 
marijuana provides relief."

Which could mean just about anything: anxiety, mood swings, 
alcoholism, insomnia, joint pain, back pain, headaches, you name it.

It's much harder to get a prescription in other states with medical 
marijuana laws. There, a person as to have a serious illness like 
AIDS or cancer. Most of those states also require patients to 
register, which at least creates some oversight. There is no paper 
trail in California.

Harborside -- the largest cannabis dispensary in the country -- has 
100,000 customers and $20 million in annual sales. That's a whole lot 
of weed. I wonder how many patients are sharing their stash with 
friends who don't have cards?

This isn't about whether or not pot is good or bad. It's about the 
lack of honesty among those who claim that the medical marijuana 
debate is all about sick people. It's not. It's about a multi- 
billion-dollar industry that pays $100 million in state taxes. Which 
is why elected officials are willing to wink and nod and look the 
other way at the flagrant flouting of the law.

Harborside's operators insist that their high volume doesn't equate 
to "profiteering." Attorneys for Harborside say the dispensary has 
abided by all local and state regulations.

Federal prosecutors allege the dispensary is using the state law for 
cover to engage in drug profiteering. They will have to prove that in court.

It is true that it will be harder for people who truly are sick to 
get easy access to marijuana if the legal cannabis dispensaries are 
forced out of business.

But whose fault will it be?

The feds who are enforcing the law or a greedy pot industry that kept 
pushing the envelope in search of ever greater profits?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom