Pubdate: Tue, 10 Nov 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Olivier Uyttebrouck

SUIT: MEDICAL POT LICENSING RULES UNFAIR

Patients in Rural Areas Have to Pick Up Weed in Parking Lots

Medical marijuana patients in Albuquerque and Santa Fe can go to a 
nearby dispensary to obtain their marijuana.

But patients in rural New Mexico - many of them ill - often are 
forced to meet with delivery drivers in parking lots of businesses 
such as McDonald's and Walmart to purchase their pot.

That puts them at risk of violating federal drug laws, violates their 
privacy and puts them in danger because they have to carry cash, 
according to a lawsuit filed against the state Department of Health.

"What we've got now are people hanging out at McDonald's waiting for 
their weed," said Santa Fe attorney Jason Flores-Williams, who filed 
the lawsuit Friday on behalf of two unidentified patients. "You may 
as well go back to the 1980s."

New Mexico lawmakers made medical marijuana legal in 2007, but the 
use, sale and possession of cannabis remains illegal under federal 
law, putting New Mexico medical pot patients at risk of arrest for 
buying marijuana in public, Flores-Williams said Monday. The lawsuit 
contends that the state Department of Health's process for approving 
licensed producers has concentrated dispensaries in Santa Fe and 
Bernalillo counties, denying rural New Mexicans equal access to medical pot.

"What we have here is a denial of access to large portions of this 
state due to the Department of Health's failure to license in an 
equitable way," he said.

The system for distributing medical marijuana in rural areas requires 
patients to wait in parking lots and public places carrying up to 
$200 in cash to pay for the deliveries, Flores-Williams said.

"It's creating a dangerous environment, because you have all these 
sick people who everybody knows have to pay cash to get their medical 
cannabis," Flores-Williams said.

The practice also deprives patients of their basic right to privacy 
in their medical treatments, he said. "All of these people are 
recognizable and everybody knows why they are there."

The New Mexico Department of Health responded in a written statement 
Monday that "licensed nonprofit producers make arrangements with 
their patients for delivery of medicine."

The 1st Judicial District Court lawsuit also was filed on behalf of 
Viridescent, a Grants nonprofit, that applied unsuccessfully this 
year to become a nonprofit medical marijuana producer.

The suit contends that the Department of Health used a flawed process 
to evaluate Viridescent's application.

Licensed nonprofit producers are selected through a competitive 
process, the Department of Health said in its written statement.

"There were more than 80 applicants, with 12 selected for licensure," 
the statement said. "Any time you have a situation like that, there 
will be applicants who are disappointed. (Health Secretary Rhetta 
Ward) stands by her decision about the applicants selected for licensure."

Health officials last month selected the 12 applicants to become 
licensed nonprofit producers, subject to site inspections. Eight of 
the selected applicants are located in Bernalillo County, and one 
each in Chaves, Santa Fe, Taos and Valencia counties.

If approved, it would increase to 35 the number of licensed medical 
pot producers in New Mexico, with most located in Santa Fe and 
Albuquerque. Patients often can buy medical marijuana directly from a 
producer, but dispensaries can also arrange deliveries to patients.

The number of New Mexicans licensed to buy medical marijuana has 
surged by about 50 percent this year to more than 18,000 patients.

The suit says that several hundred licensed medical cannabis patients 
in the Grants area have the limited choice of driving to dispensaries 
in Albuquerque or Gallup, which has a single storefront dispensary.

Those who are unwilling, or unable, to make the trip are required to 
wait in a Walmart parking lot for the arrival of a delivery driver, 
Flores-Williams said. The drivers typically send text messages to 
patients telling them when and where to wait for deliveries.

Delivery sites in cities such as Grants, Raton and Santa Rosa can 
include store parking lots, TravelCenters of America and Microtel Inn 
& Suites, the lawsuit said.

The practice also has the potential to put those businesses at risk 
of violating federal law, it contends.
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