Pubdate: Thu, 09 Oct 2014
Source: Middletown Press, The (CT)
Copyright: 2014 The Middletown Press
Contact:  http://www.middletownpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/586
Author: Morgan Walsh
Page: A8

MARIJUANA MAY SOON BE LEGAL FOR RECREATIONAL USE IN CONNECTICUT

Medical marijuana is just starting to grow throughout Connecticut. 
Recently four producers were accepted out of the 16 applicants to 
open up plants to grow medical marijuana. There originally was 
supposed to be only three producers; however the number of patients 
increased from 900 to 1,700 during a short period.

The increase in the number of patients required another producer to 
be chosen from the applications. This amount of increase is only the 
start of the amount of patients there will be in the years to come, 
which means more and more producers will need to open up.

Medical marijuana will never come to a standstill. More patients will 
be prescribed this medication and those patients will soon need 
higher dosages. This calls for more producers to accommodate the 
number of patients, and more dispensaries to accommodate the amount 
of medical marijuana being grown.

For the new production of medical marijuana, six dispensaries were 
cleared for the patients to pick up their prescriptions. Soon, this 
will expand as the number of patients increase.

The need for marijuana is very obvious. If people are not prescribed 
it, they prescribe it to themselves. Colorado took 12 years to 
legalize recreational marijuana after legalizing medical marijuana. 
Connecticut has legalized medical marijuana, and it is only a matter 
of time before recreational marijuana will be legalized as well.

Medical marijuana production has already given jobs to at least 100 
people, expanded four companies, and no doubt will help the economy.

Gov. Malloy is also being very professional about the new industry. 
Each dispensary has to have a licensed physician on premise and each 
patient must be prescribed by an approved physician. These approaches 
to distributing the medical marijuana being grown is definitely 
following safety procedures to make sure the marijuana is going only 
to patients approved by doctors.

Each facility also has security to ensure the marijuana is only being 
distributed for medical reasons, and is not being put in the wrong 
hands. Even though these procedures are being followed, marijuana 
will still expand past the use of these 1,700 patients that are 
identified as of today.

It will grow beyond medical use, and be prescribed to patients who do 
not necessarily need the marijuana, and even past that to be legally 
recreational. Not saying this will happen any time soon, but 
legalizing medical marijuana is the first step.

Connecticut is already on the track, with these four new legal 
producers opening up their facilities and passing the marijuana onto 
the six new distributors. The question is will the marijuana be 
legally grown just for medical purposes in the future? I am guessing not.

Morgan Walsh

Portland
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