Pubdate: Fri, 19 Sep 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 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: Scot Lehigh

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES' GROWING IMPATIENCE

Matt Allen, the man behind the state's medical marijuana law, is all 
done holding his tongue.

Almost two years after voters passed that ballot question, Allen 
notes, this state isn't even close to having, in his felicitously 
turned phrase, "seeds in the ground."

The law envisioned up to 35 nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries, 
with at least one in each county, ready to go - or grow - by the end 
of 2013. Almost nine months into 2014, after a process full of, um, 
potholes, 11 marijuana dispensaries have been provisionally 
certified, with half the counties uncovered. Even by the 
administration's estimate, the first of those won't make it through 
the final review and start operating until early next year.

Nor does the Patrick administration have up and running the online 
program to let police and dispensaries verify that patients are 
eligible to possess or grow medical marijuana. But when Allen, 
executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, 
has tried to inject a little urgency into the process, the message 
has always been the same: Be patient.

Although he voted twice for Patrick, his patience is now officially 
exhausted. Indeed, he's come to think Patrick's possible national 
ambitions figure into the delays.

"There is so much the administration could have done to move things 
forward," he told me. "At this point, with the lack of movement, I 
think it is politics. The perception is that it would be more 
convenient for them to slow walk this until the governor gets out of office."

Not so, asserts Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus. "We 
want to take our time and get this right," he says.

After a process full of, um, potholes, 11 marijuana dispensaries have 
been provisionally certified.

About the best one can say to that is that the administration is one for two.

The Department of Public Health and its contractors bungled the 
application process, resulting in some embarrassing revelations - 
and, of course, delays. Against the backdrop of his rocky second-term 
record, Patrick's team seems to have put the desire to avoid more bad 
headlines above the impetus to provide timely help for those who 
could benefit from medical marijuana.

For example, even if one buys that two years is an appropriate period 
to get a limited number of dispensaries operating, another part of 
the law could be helping patients right now.

That section allows individual medical-marijuana growers, or 
"caregivers," to supply patients who have a doctor's letter. Problem: 
The Department of Public Health has issued regulations rendering that 
provision hard to use. Some other states let individual growers 
supply multiple patients. For example, Arizona, California, Maine, 
Michigan, and Rhode Island all allow caregivers to grow for as many 
as five patients. Montana allows three.

But the Patrick administration has stipulated that one grower can 
only supply one patient. Given the costs of a growing operation, the 
Department of Public Health's stricture makes that provision nearly 
useless, says Allen.

Further, when Allen tried to bring five patients and caregivers in to 
meet with Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz to 
discuss the problem, the meeting was first canceled on short notice. 
Although it was rescheduled for Aug. 20, when the group showed up, 
the secretary would only meet with Allen. The others were left to 
talk to Karen van Unen, the executive director of the Department of 
Public Health's medical marijuana program.

According to Loftus, the Department of Public Health's restrictive 
regulation was written after a number of public meetings and 
consultations with law enforcement about the best way to serve 
patients while also keeping medical marijuana out of non-patient 
hands. Translation: The administration put the wishes of law 
enforcement above practicality for patients.

In a state where possession of small amounts of marijuana is 
decriminalized, that seems excessively cautious, particularly given 
1) the delay in licensing dispensaries and 2) the clear need some 
patients have.

One such patient is Troy Sweder of Methuen, an Air Force veteran 
whose service injuries have left him with neuropathic pain that 
marijuana helps alleviate without the side effects of the drugs the 
Veterans Administration has prescribed. But under the current system, 
marijuana is hard for him to get.

"As a Massachusetts resident, I am just very disappointed," he says. 
"The state wouldn't have to do much. There are people out there who 
could be caregivers until the dispensaries open."

Allen and his group have a press conference planned for Monday to 
highlight their frustrations. Patrick, who arrives back in state this 
weekend from his latest overseas trip, should give this matter his 
serious attention.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom