Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jul 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
Author: Bob Salsberg, Associated Press

FEDERAL-WATERS OBSTACLE KEEPS POT OFF STATE ISLES

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts has a cannabis conundrum.

State law requires every county to have a dispensary for medical 
marijuana, but federal regulations forbid the drug from being 
transported across U.S. waters. That leaves the tourist havens of 
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket potless unless someone gets a license 
to grow it legally on the islands.

Despite their small size, both islands are their own counties. State 
officials suggest the federal restrictions could add to the challenge 
of opening medical marijuana outlets on both, or either, of the 
islands in the near future and might preclude the possibility of the 
islands sharing a dispensary.

One approach to establishing dispensaries on the islands would be to 
license an operator to cultivate and sell pot at the same location, 
perfectly legal under the state law. Geoff Rose, a transplanted New 
Yorker who has lived on the Vineyard for 14 years, applied to the 
state health department for a license to do just that.

The federal-waters obstacle, he said, is "an impediment to those who 
thought they could cultivate off-island and transport here, but I 
don't see it as an impediment at all."

His company, Patient Centric of Martha's Vineyard, originally applied 
last year under a since-discarded licensing process but fell short of 
meeting the state's criteria at the time. He hopes his renewed bid 
will get a more favorable reception, allowing him to open by next 
year in the town of West Tisbury.

Massachusetts has struggled in general to implement a 2012 
voter-approved law that allows patients with certain chronic or 
painful conditions to register with the state and use marijuana.

The law permits as many as 35 dispensaries, but the first opened only 
recently, in Salem. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who took office in 
January, ordered a more streamlined licensing process, which has won 
praise from medical marijuana supporters.

Some companies are proposing a central cultivation center that would 
then supply several dispensaries in different locations. That would 
not be possible for the islands.

Marylou Sudders, state secretary of health and human services, 
predicted as many as 15 dispensaries could open statewide by year's 
end, but she added, "Perhaps we have to do something differently on 
the islands."

Ferries that shuttle visitors and islanders travel over coastal 
waters that fall under federal jurisdiction.

"Our policy remains the same: It's illegal to transport and possess" 
marijuana, said Ross Ruddell, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston.

Still, Ruddell said he was unaware of any enforcement by the Coast 
Guard involving medicinal marijuana and pointed to current 
discussions aimed at reconciling federal and state policies.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom