Three prominent staff members of the Cape's largest substance abuse treatment organization have signed on to work for different medical marijuana clinics. Ray Tamasi, president and CEO of Gosnold on Cape Cod, has accepted the job as addiction prevention director for Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts, which received provisional licenses to open three dispensaries - one in Mashpee, Taunton and Plymouth. Tamasi said he plans to donate his projected salary of $100,000 to his treatment organization's prevention program. Shelley Stormo, Gosnold's director of family services, will be the CEO and president of Compassionate Care Clinics, which has a provisional license to open in Fairhaven. Her projected salary is $150,000, she said. [continues 1091 words]
SANDWICH - Discrepancies between Sandwich police and a Samoset Road resident over a traffic stop puts the focus on ambiguities in the state's medical marijuana law. Paul McHugh Jr., 41, was on his way to work at the Hess gas station and store on Cotuit Road at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday when he was pulled over on Quaker Meetinghouse Road for allegedly speeding and failing to yield for an ambulance. During the stop, officers smelled marijuana in the Volkswagen Rabbit and asked McHugh about it, according to Police Chief Peter Wack. [continues 678 words]
BOSTON - Massachusetts voters may have enthusiastically approved the legalization of medical marijuana, but that hasn't stopped communities around the state from rushing to amend their zoning regulations to make sure marijuana dispensaries are banned or restricted in their towns. Although the law allowing the use of marijuana for patients with serious medical conditions goes into effect Jan. 1, the state Department of Public Health has until May 1 to issue regulations on who will run the dispensaries, who will work there and how they will be operated. DPH must also decide what constitutes a 60-day supply patients can receive. [continues 686 words]
The medical marijuana question on the Nov. 6 ballot would allow people suffering from ailments such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis to legally obtain the drug. But the language in the proposed law does little to clarify whether marijuana should be treated in the workplace the same as a controlled substance like painkillers. "It could have been written much more clearly," Kabrina Krebel Chang, an assistant professor of business law at Boston University, said. "But, it wasn't." If it passes, Question 3 would allow patients to use marijuana as long as they have written approval from a qualified physician. Nonprofit dispensaries would be set up across the state, with at least one, but no more than five, in each county. There would also be instances where a patient could cultivate a 60-day supply of marijuana if access to a dispensary were limited by finances, distance or a physical incapacity. [continues 607 words]
SANDWICH -- Town leaders were warned that a ballot question seeking to legalize medical marijuana in the Bay State will have financial implications for police and, ultimately, town budgets. At a breakfast meeting of the Cape Cod Selectmen and Councilors' Association on Friday at the Dan'l Webster Inn, several dozen officials heard experts say the question is likely to pass and that, when it does, it will strain the budgets of local police departments. "Now that 17 states have done it and only one state amended it, we've got data, hard data, that shows exactly why this public policy is going to be a disaster," Sandwich Selectman Linell Grundman, president of the association, said. [continues 534 words]
SANDWICH -- Is it a question of providing relief to those with painful ailments or will it open the door to widespread abuse? Students from Cape Cod Community College's debate team sought to argue those points Tuesday night during a public debate over the third ballot item this coming November to legalize marijuana for medical use. The crux of the argument hinges on this: Is medical marijuana a needed drug for those with illnesses like multiple sclerosis and cancer, or does the harm outweigh the good, creating a legal marketplace for an otherwise illegal drug. [continues 409 words]
The elections have shown a (predictably) divided nation when it comes to regulating/ending the illogical and costly prohibition of marijuana. Although the nonbinding Question 5 did not make it onto my precinct's ballot, I could not be more proud of my town for voting 62 percent to 38 percent in favor of the regulation and taxing of marijuana. On the other side of the nation, though, Oregonians shot down Proposition 74, choosing not to regulate medical marijuana in a disappointing outcome. And in what was probably the most closely watched question on any ballot, California shot down Proposition 19, postponing the complete legalization of marijuana, for now at least. Although these two propositions both lost due to a severe lack of voter turnout, regardless of vocal support, they represent a new era in this country when the discussion of legalization is no longer viewed as a fringe argument. Ben Panish East Falmouth [end]
Thank you for your informative series on prescription drug abuse, which is undeniably a serious problem. I would like to see you do an equally informative series on the flip side of the problem: people with a legitimate need for prescription medications for pain who are unable to obtain them because physicians are (understandably) reluctant to prescribe them. The medical journals are full of articles about the mistreatment and undertreatment of chronic pain, but I'll bet you could easily find dozens of people to give you first-person stories. Even those who, like myself, have no interest whatsoever in using narcotics for chronic pain have difficulty finding a health care provider who will have a serious conversation about managing pain while juggling full-time work, home, care of elders, and all the other exigencies of daily life in the 21st century. [continues 71 words]
I strongly urge voters in Falmouth and the Islands to vote in favor of regulation and legalization of marijuana on Election Day. Addressing the comments referring to high school students, regulation will in truth make it more difficult for minors to acquire marijuana. Currently minors can obtain marijuana more easily than they can alcohol. That is certainly because alcohol is regulated, legal for those over 21 and not under that age. Legalization does not allow using marijuana in public, nor while driving. I completely agree with David Cooperrider. In his letter of Sept. 30 he stated, "The legalization of marijuana is the prudent thing to do." Edith Aucoin Bourne [end]
I'm pleased logic is slowly making its way into the lives of others regarding the legalization of cannabis. It truly is a better idea than classifying it as an illicit drug, or decriminalizing it. Keeping cannabis illegal gives up all control and regulation of it and leaves it to "criminals" to deal with, literally. With cannabis decriminalized, it's in an odd gray area that just doesn't work too well. Law enforcement officials don't really know what to do in lots of scenarios, and the tickets that are issued don't need to be paid, for now. Our cash-strapped state is losing out on valuable tax dollars for the sake of pseudomorality, while OxyContin and Percocet are being sold in stores. And we all can see how failed the drug war has been - longest one running. [continues 61 words]
It was very sad to read about the recent death and devastation of our youth by the use of hard drugs ("Pills that kill," Sept. 19-21). Unfortunately, this situation was predicted at the time Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana. Doctors and other experts testified that easy access to pot would make youth more likely to try hard drugs. And heroin is so addictive that one or two experiences can result in addiction. At the high school attended by my grandchildren, the smell of pot is strong throughout the halls. The principal says there is nothing he can do since pot possession has been decriminalized. And yet years ago, the halls and restrooms were policed by teachers to prohibit cigarette smoking. Lax pot policies in our schools should not be tolerated. We should not legalize marijuana because a small minority of adults thinks it's fun. The tax dollars that might be generated are also not worth the result of our youth dying. Kenneth H. Molloy Cotuit [end]
Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello is right: I never met anyone who started with heroin or crack, either ("Voters set to ponder legalized pot," Sept. 25). Most people started with alcohol. The Centers for Disease Control reports that just behind tobacco use and poor eating and exercise habits, alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. In 2001 approximately 75,000 people died from alcohol abuse, of whom over 40,000 died in alcohol-related car crashes. [continues 115 words]
Occasionally an opinion appears which, in its amazingly bizarre reasoning, calls out for a response. On the subject of whether to legalize marijuana, I refer to Steven Epstein's position that "anyone who has a rational mind will see that it's just wrong not to make money on it" ("Voters set to ponder legal pot," Sept. 25). He goes on to say that "marijuana is no more dangerous than eating fatty foods or drinking soda." As a health care professional with 20 years' experience treating drug addiction and alcoholism, I strongly disagree with his position. [continues 105 words]
FALMOUTH -- Possessing small amounts of marijuana has already been decriminalized, but could legalization be next? The idea might not be so far out, man. Voters in Falmouth precincts 1, 2, 5 and 6, as well as on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, will weigh in on a nonbinding ballot question in November regarding legislation that would allow the state to regulate and tax marijuana in the same fashion as alcohol, said attorney Steven Epstein, a founder of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. [continues 521 words]
With no disrespect to West Barnstable Fire Chief Joe Maruca ("Funding and court ruling prevent random drug tests," Letters, Nov. 6) or firefighters, as they are both well-deserving of our thanks and respect, there is a pervasive lack of education concerning random drug testing and its importance to mitigating substance misuse in the workplace. Here are facts everyone should be aware of. - - 75 percent of substance abusers are employed. - - More than 10 percent of employees abuse drugs and/or alcohol. [continues 120 words]
November 15, 2008 The majority has spoken to decriminalize cannabis (marijuana), and two statements in your Nov. 7 story "Marijuana not (quite) legal" exemplify the reasoning behind it. First, Sheriff James Cummings must realize it doesn't matter if it's unprofitable to stop caging responsible adults for using the plant; stop anyway. Second, how on earth does a chief executive officer of a treatment center continue to believe cannabis is a "gateway drug" when historically nearly every study, including those conducted by the government, discredits the theory? [continues 74 words]
Voters showed landslide-margin support for decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, but law enforcement officials say the way to implement the law passed as Question 2 on Tuesday's ballot isn't laid out clearly. Under the ballot initiative -- approved by 65 percent of voters and prevailing in nearly every city and town in the state -- those caught possessing an ounce or less of marijuana would be subject to a $100 fine, similar to a speeding ticket, but no jail time. [continues 1020 words]
For about 40 years since the so-called "war on drugs" began, we have spent untold billions of dollars trying to stop the influx of illegal drugs into our country, and additional billions incarcerating offenders. We have made it a trillion-dollar business worldwide as others from outside fall over themselves to satisfy the craving of American addicts. Afghanistan, from which the 9/11 attack on us originated, is brimming over with drugs bound for our shores. It's time to change direction and take another tack. The only reason drugs are pouring into this country is because of the huge profits to be made from their sale. If we take the profit motive out of the equation, the supply will dry up. How can we do this? Legalize all drugs; open federal drug outlets where present addicts can get their supply at little cost (drugs are cheap when legal); and institute programs at these locations to educate and give rehabilitation services to help addicts kick their habit. [continues 54 words]
BOSTON -- Law enforcement officials from across the state stood on the Statehouse steps yesterday to denounce Question 2 on the Nov. 4 ballot, which would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, the president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, called it a "radical measure that would worsen the problem created by drugs in our communities." He was joined by prosecutors, law enforcement officers, religious leaders and community leaders from across the state. The ballot question is also opposed by Gov. Deval Patrick and Attorney General Martha Coakley. [continues 274 words]
He walked with an athlete's grace and smiled shyly with beguiling charm. He dried his clothes outdoors and carried the scent of the seasons wherever he ventured. Curtis L. Hendricks II saw himself as a protector of his mother, his two sisters and his girlfriend. If a friend was suffering, he would enfold the other in a warm bear hug trying to absorb the pain. He thought he could fix anything. But the 26-year-old could not fix himself. [continues 1714 words]
