Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2012
Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)
Copyright: 2012 The Mail Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mailtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/642
Note: Only prints LTEs from within it's circulation area, 200 word count limit

ANOTHER FLAW IN THE LAW

Medical Marijuana Act Does Not Allow a Nonprofit Outfit to Provide Baked Goods

The Medford City Council's denial last week of a business license to 
MaryJane's Treats is just the latest example of a medical marijuana 
law that was not well thought out before it was offered to voters.

On Thursday, the council upheld city staff's denial of a license to 
Richard Nuckols, owner of Canafoods Inc., doing business as 
MaryJane's Treats. It appears Nuckols had done everything he could to 
operate within Oregon's medical marijuana law, but the council had no 
choice but to deny his request because there was no way he could 
conduct his business legally under the law as written.

Nuckols wanted to cook marijuana into baked goods, allowing patients 
to eat the drug instead of smoking it and making it easier to regulate dosages.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act prohibits the sale of marijuana. 
"Caregivers" - the law's term for growers of medical marijuana - can 
distribute the drug to medical cardholders, but can recover only their costs.

Nuckols proposed to get around the prohibition on selling by using 
the patients' own marijuana, which he would test and bake into his 
products, then sell the baked goods back to the patients, not 
charging them for their own active ingredient. He also intended to 
operate the business as a nonprofit.

That didn't satisfy Medford Chief of Police Tim George, who told the 
council that the operation would violate both state and federal laws. 
Under the state law, medical marjuana cannot be "manufactured" 
anywhere but at a grow site. State law defines any packaging or 
processing of a drug as manufacturing, which would include baking.

It's too bad Nuckols couldn't make a go of his idea, because it 
offers patients the opportunity to ingest medical marijuana without 
the health risks of inhaling smoke, which can be difficult for 
patients with lung disorders or breathing problems.

The concept of baking a patient's own marijuana into edible form is 
little different from the common practice of meat processors 
butchering and wrapping deer and elk meat for hunters for a fee, or a 
fish cannery doing custom orders for sport anglers. There ought to be 
a way to allow Nuckols and others to perform a similar service for 
medical marijuana cardholders.

But if state law must be changed first, that will require the 
Legislature to act.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom