Pubdate: Wed, 05 Aug 2015
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.seattleweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Michael A. Stusser
PATIENT PROTECTION ACT, MY ASS
How Recreational-Marijuana Legalization Is Screwing Medical-Marijuana Access.
Washington continues to take one step forward and seven steps back in
our legalization experiment. With new laws rapidly eroding the
voter-approved Medical Use of Marijuana Act of 1998, the cannabis
community is deeply divided between the "haves" (recreational
retailers, growers, and processors) and the "have-nots"
(medical-marijuana patients and dispensaries). What does this grave
new world look like?
No-Man's Land
Dispensaries and collective gardens are being shut down across
Washington, leaving the state's estimated 175,000 medical patients to
wonder how in the hell they're going to get their medicine. They
aren't likely to find it at recreational stores, which have little
incentive to sell medicinal items such as low-THC edibles,
transdermal patches, topicals, or cannabis suppositories.
King County and the Seattle City Council have voted to begin shutting
down "unlicensed" dispensaries, and are sending Cease and Desist
orders to collectives. Dispensaries also have been notified that if
they continue to operate as unlicensed retail outlets, they'll face
civil and criminal ramifications. Problem is, there are no
medical-dispensary licenses under 502, and currently no guidelines
for them to apply. The official application period for 502 stores
ended in December 2013, and no new applications for medicinal stores
will be taken until next July. And until the (Liquor and) Cannabis
Board approves these new applications, patients are stuck in the
middle of a cannabis clusterfuck. In addition, dozens of counties and
towns are banning legal marijuana stores in their jurisdictions, not
only ignoring the will of the voters but denying access for those
using medical cannabis.
Patient "Protection"
As noted previously in this column ("Marijuana Is Medicine," April
29), Senate Bill 5052, signed into law by Governor Inslee in April,
is a draconian piece of crap that will overhaul (aka eliminate) a
medical system that was up and running long before recreational
marijuana was even a seedling. Last week, part of the bill-which in
an Orwellian twist has been deemed the Cannabis Patient Protection
Act-went into effect with a slew of regressive rules, tailor-made to
force longtime medical users into either taxable retail stores or
back underground. The new law drastically cuts the number of plants a
patient can have. No more than 15 plants can now be grown in a single
housing unit, regardless of the number of patients or designated
providers who reside there. This directly impacts thousands of
patients who are unable to grow (or afford) marijuana themselves and
belong to collective gardens, which previously allowed up to 45
plants for 10 individuals. Many of these collectives also prepare
edibles for patients who cannot smoke, as well as cannabis oils,
balms, and tinctures for a wide variety of maladies.
No House Calls
Practitioners can no longer go to a patient's home or set up a
location outside of their permanent office to evaluate, assess, or
examine for a qualifying condition; this eliminates satellite
clinics, which doctors often set up in rural areas where few health
professionals were available to write authorizations for medial
marijuana. (We'd hate for Grandma to get too comfortable and be
evaluated for her Parkinson's or Crohn's disease anywhere near her
home in Black Diamond.)
Feeding the Paranoia
Health-care practitioners can no longer run an office with the sole
purpose of authorizing medical recommendations. (I mean, why have
anyone specialize in the ailments that may be alleviated by
cannabis?) If a health-care practitioner writes more than 30
authorizations for medical marijuana in a single month, he or she
must now report the number to the Washington Department of Health.
You don't have to be paranoid to be nervous about doctors handing
over charts and records to various state boards and commissions which
point out that their patients are committing felonies at the federal
level. And the paranoia won't stop there. This particularly
nerve-wracking requirement will be eliminated a year from now . . .
when the new "voluntary" registry takes effect. You don't sign up-you
get no tax break for medical weed.
The Budtender Is Not In
A final absurd nail: Medical patients, who will now need to get their
cannabis from recreational outlets, will not be able to discuss
medical solutions to their various ailments and illnesses with store
budtenders. It's strictly against Liquor and Cannabis rules.
A Positive for Veterans
There was one positive outcome from Washington's legislative changes:
Post-traumatic stress disorder is now one of the conditions that a
medical provider can cite to authorize the use of marijuana.
Even this seeming no-brainer wasn't a shoo-in: Colorado's Board of
Health recently rejected PTSD as a qualifying condition, saying they
wanted further research, despite their own Colorado Scientific
Advisory Council's recommendation that it be added.
Veterans have testified at the state and federal level in their
efforts to allow cannabis to treat a variety of conditions
ex-military personnel face, including depression, anxiety, insomnia,
traumatic brain injuries, and pain relief. According to the
Department of Veteran Affairs, an average of 22 veterans kill
themselves every day. While the feds do not allow military personnel
to use cannabis during their service or as part of post-service
treatment plans through the Veterans Administration, if there are any
ways to alleviate their suffering, we should obviously explore them.
#SupportOurTroops
More regulations that will eliminate safe medical-marijuana access
points take effect next July, including rules on licensing and
product testing, collective garden requirements, and shutting down
all current medical dispensaries and potentially licensing them as
retail stores. Lawsuits and Initiatives to overturn both Initiative
502 and portions of 5052 and stop the closure of medical dispensaries
have been filed by the Association of Safe Access Points
(saveaccesswa.com and asapwa.org), Real Legalization
(reallegalization.org), and others. The Legalization Experiment
clumsily continues.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom