Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI) Copyright: 2015 Associated Press Contact: http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154 LONG DRIVES, HIGH COSTS LIKELY IN LATEST MEDICAL POT PROGRAM (AP) - There will be no baggies of pot awaiting patients this week when Minnesota joins 21 other states in offering medical marijuana. Instead, the nation's latest medical marijuana program is a world of pill bottles and vials of marijuana-infused oil. For the qualifying patients seeking relief from pain, medical marijuana advocates and some lawmakers, Wednesday isn't the finish line, but the first step. The state's restrictive approach, unseen in the industry, is expected to mean high costs, long drives and reluctant doctors. Minnesota's medical marijuana advocates snatched an unlikely victory from the Legislature last year after years of failed efforts, but there was little celebration. What emerged was a program designed to assuage skeptical law enforcement lobbyists. Smoking the plant is forbidden. Pills, oils and vapors are available only to patients suffering from severe conditions, such as cancer, AIDS and epilepsy. And the medicine can be sold in only eight locations, hundreds of miles away from some in Minnesota's rural expanses. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom