Pubdate: Thu, 29 Aug 2013
Source: Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright: 2013 The Day Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.theday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Page: A6

A STATE POT POLICY

Connecticut has devised a sensible policy for the use of medical
marijuana, and it's time for federal law to fall in line with state
attitudes.

Connecticut is pursuing a measured and prudent approach to the
legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. The process continued
this week when the General Assembly's Regulations Review Committee
approved the rules covering production, dispensing and the purchasing
of medical marijuana.

Connecticut is putting safeguards in place to prevent the loosely
regulated approach seen in other states, California among them, which
comes close to de facto legalization. In California doctors have been
able to prescribe pot to treat most anything and its 2,100
dispensaries face little control in the way they do business or obtain
the drug.

In Connecticut, indoor growing facilities will be licensed by the
state. The Department of Consumer Protection will issue three to 10
licenses. Dispensaries will have to obtain the product from the
licensed facilities and maintain records on the buying and selling of
the marijuana, an effort to prevent illicit sales to the recreational
market.

The Connecticut law has a narrow definition of illnesses that doctors
can prescribe marijuana for, including multiple sclerosis, cancer,
Parkinson's disease, glaucoma, HIV and AIDS. In many cases marijuana
can be prescribed to minimize the adverse side effects from treating
these diseases with other medicines. Some advocates for medical
marijuana say the permitted uses are too restrictive, but better to
proceed cautiously and then expand, or contract, as more information
becomes available and the success of the state program is
demonstrated.

At the state level, attitudes about marijuana have changed
dramatically. Eighteen states have decriminalized possession of
marijuana or approved its medicinal use, Connecticut having done both.
In Washington and Colorado voters approved ballot measures legalizing
recreational use.

This approach in the states remains at odds with federal law, which
still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, on a par with heroin
and LSD. This has created an uneasy standoff. The Obama administration
has largely let the state initiatives proceed, but at times the Drug
Enforcement Administration has cracked down on dispensaries when it
feels regulations are being abused.

Congress should end the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1
drug since the evidence does not back giving it that distinction.
Removing the designation would ease the tension between federal and
state law and allow states to continue exploring how to deal with
marijuana, providing useful information that can eventually guide
national policy.
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MAP posted-by: Matt