Pubdate: Tue, 29 Jan 2013
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2013 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

MASS. SEEKS INPUT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Circle the calendar. Massachusetts health officials have set aside
three days in February for public "listening sessions" across the
state to help them gather opinions and ideas as they craft highly
anticipated medical marijuana regulations.

The three-hour sessions will be held in Worcester on Feb. 13; Boston
on Feb. 14; and Holyoke on Feb. 27. Each speaker will have up to three
minutes to comment.

Under the November ballot referendum that legalized medical marijuana,
the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is required to issue
regulations on implementing the law by May 1.

The department is seeking input on several specific issues, which are
outlined in a flier to be released Wednesday.

Those issues include the criteria for deciding which types of
conditions patients must have to be authorized for medical marijuana
use; security require-ments for treatment centers; defining the
quantity of marijuana that constitutes a 60-day supply; criteria for
the use of marijuana in food products for medical purposes; and the
requirements for people who apply to cultivate their own marijuana
because of finan-cial hardship or lack of reasonable transportation to
a dispensary.

"We feel it's important to hear what the concerns are," Dr. Lauren
Smith, interim public health commissioner, said in an interview Tuesday.

Smith said her department is studying regulations already in place in
17 other states that have approved the use of medical marijuana, but
also wants to craft rules that are right for Massa-chusetts.

The Feb. 13 Worcester session will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. at the
Worcester Public Library Saxe Room.

The Boston session on Feb. 14 will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at
Roxbury Community College Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center, 1350
Tremont St. The Feb. 27 Holyoke session will be from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
at the Holyoke Community College Kittredge Business Center, 303
Homestead Ave.

Written comments will be accepted through Feb. 28, at the Department
of Public Health, Attention: Medical Marijuana Listening Sessions,
250 Washington St., 2d Floor, Boston, MA 02108.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D