Pubdate: Fri, 05 Oct 2012
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2012 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Noelle Crombie

HIGHER MEDICAL MARIJUANA FEES SUPPORT "SLUSH FUND," HURT PATIENTS, 
OREGON ADVOCATES SAY

Elvy Musikka moved to Oregon in 2005 to take part in the state's 
medical marijuana program and get access to what the 73-year-old 
Eugene woman calls "good Oregon cannabis."

But Musikka, who lives on a fixed income and uses the drug to treat 
glaucoma, has dropped out of the program, citing the state's decision 
to raise the cost of maintaining her patient card.

"I told them it would price many people out of the program," Musikka 
said, "and leave us with no option but to go to the black market."

Oregon lawmakers raised fees last year on medical marijuana patients 
in an effort to plug holes in the state budget. A year later, medical 
marijuana advocates say the increase was an unfair attempt to 
capitalize on patients who rely on the state marijuana program to 
treat serious ailments.

New fees went into effect last October, doubling the annual cost of 
obtaining an Oregon medical marijuana card to $200. If patients want 
someone else to grow their pot, they are charged an extra $50 -- a 
fee that was added last year.

And if they switch growers or caregivers, or change the address where 
their marijuana is grown, the state charges on an additional $100, 
another new fee. The state, until last year, charged $10 to replace a 
lost or stolen card. Now that fee is $100.

Oregon lawmakers authorized the fees to raise money for a wide range 
of public health-related programs. The state said it collected $8.8 
million in patient fees from July 2011 through July 2012.

Major allocations of that money include $1.75 million for emergency 
medical services, $3 million for clean drinking water programs, $1.1 
million for family planning and $500,000 for school-based health 
centers, Oregon Health Authority data show. Other areas funded with 
medical marijuana dollars include statewide monitoring of trauma 
hospitals and a farmers market program for senior citizens.

"All these things are good, but they all need to come out of the 
general fund, not out of a slush fund created by doubling fees on 
technically sick people," said Greg Byers, a medical marijuana 
patient in Eugene.

Rep. Peter Buckley, the House Democratic co-chair of the Joint Ways 
and Means Committee, said he supports medical marijuana but the fees 
were increased to address Oregon's stark "budget realities."

Higher fees also were intended to curb what some lawmakers viewed as 
the "rapid expansion of medical marijuana cardholders," Buckley said. 
According to the state's latest statistics, 56,939 patients are 
enrolled in the program.

"There was an argument made that if the fees were a little higher, 
that would perhaps dissuade people who didn't need the cards from 
going down that road," Buckley said.

Oregon has some of the highest fees of any state that allow medical 
marijuana. Some states charge nothing to be a medical marijuana 
cardholder. Others impose annual fees ranging from $25 to $150. New 
Jersey charges $200 for a card good for two years. Some states offer 
discounts for people receiving government aid or whose incomes fall 
below the poverty level.

Until last year, Oregon allowed applicants on food stamps or those on 
the Oregon Health Plan to pay $20 to get a medical marijuana card. 
Now medical marijuana applicants enrolled in those programs must pay 
$100 for a medical marijuana card.

The program still offers a discount to people receiving Social 
Security's Supplemental Security Income. Those applicants pay $20 to 
take part in the medical marijuana program. State officials said six 
percent of patients received this discount.

In all, about 40 percent of current cardholders qualified for reduced 
fees, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

John Sajo, an Oregon marijuana activist, said some patients spend up 
to $500 a year to obtain or renew their medical marijuana card.

The state, like a lot of others, is making money off of pot, he said.

"From my perspective everyone likes to make money from marijuana," 
Sajo said. "Growers like to make money from marijuana and legislators 
like to make money from marijuana. There's lots of money being made."

Byers, the patient from Eugene, uses marijuana to treat back spasms, 
nausea and severe pain. The 60-year-old retired auto mechanic and his 
wife spent $800 this year to maintain their patient status with the 
Oregon medical marijuana program, compared with $200 last year.

They paid $400 for both of them to register and an extra $50 for 
Byers to be designated as his wife's marijuana grower. Then they 
spent $200 to notify the state when they changed grow sites. When 
Byers' plants didn't produce, they had to find another grower and a 
new grow site, which meant paying the state another $50 to switch 
growers and an extra $100 to change the grow site address.

"It's a major concern," Byers said. "I know of many people who are 
not registering. They are just going to risk it."

In Oregon, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana was 
decriminalized four decades ago. Possessing that amount is considered 
a noncriminal violation punishable with up to $1,000 in fines.

Musikka, the Eugene woman who quit the medical marijuana program, is 
in an unusual position.

She may be out of luck when it comes to legally obtaining Oregon 
marijuana, but she is one of a handful of Americans who continue to 
get an annual supply of weed from the federal government as 
participants in a now-defunct medical research program that was 
created in 1978 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. .

Musikka was blunt in her assessment of the government's marijuana, 
calling it "garbage." It's of such poor quality, said Musikka, that 
she used to mix it with marijuana cultivated by a grower in Eugene.

Musikka, who said she gets by on a $700-a-month Social Security check 
and is on the Oregon Health Plan, is eligible for the reduced 
marijuana registration fee of $100. But she said she can't afford it, 
so earlier this year she let her status as an Oregon medical 
marijuana patient lapse.

"I really did try," she said. "I sent $70 -- $20 for me and $50 for 
my grower, but they wanted more and I don't have it."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom