Pubdate: Mon, 12 Jul 2010
Source: Morning Sentinel (Waterville, ME)
Copyright: 2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Contact: 
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/readerservices/Send_a_Letter_to_the_Editor-MS.html
Website: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1474

POT CLINICS SHOULD GUARD AGAINST DRUG DIVERSION

In the 1990s, well-meaning physicians changed the way they prescribed 
narcotics after medical researchers determined that pain was being 
undertreated in the United States.

As a result, large quantities of powerful drugs like OxyContin were 
diverted into the black market. Drug makers, pharmacists and doctors 
got smarter about how they distributed the drugs, but not before 
people abused them and became addicted, in many cases leaving their 
lives ruined or their families grieving.

Maine will face a similar danger with the opening of medical 
marijuana dispensaries next year, with four of the first six run by 
Northeast Patients Group, a California-based firm.

The dispensary for central Maine will locate either in Waterville or 
Augusta, depending on zoning regulations, the new hospital and the 
highway exit. Outgoing Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion, Winthrop 
resident Faith Benedetti and a retired pharmacist from Holden are on 
the groups board of directors.

Remedy Compassion Center received the license for the district that 
comprises Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin counties. The proposed 
location is in East Wilton.

Reports of how medical marijuana is distributed in California makes 
Northeast Patients Groups presence here unsettling. On the West 
Coast, medical marijuana is seen by many as a legal fig leaf for 
recreational drug use, with clinics equipped with onsite doctors, who 
can write prescriptions for anxiety to any patient who wants one.

Maines rules about how prescriptions are written and for what 
conditions are much stricter than Californias, and if they are 
rigorously followed, Maines dispensaries have a better chance of 
getting marijuana to those who are supposed to have it.

We are encouraged that Northeast Patients Group has named Dion to its 
board of directors. Dion was an early advocate of medical marijuana, 
but a vocal opponent of general legalization. He will bring a 
law-enforcement perspective that should be valuable in determining 
the safest ways to distribute the drug.

We dont need another drug-diversion disaster. Its up to the state and 
these licensees to make sure it doesnt happen again.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart