Pubdate: Thu, 09 May 2013 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2013 The Boston Herald, Inc Contact: http://news.bostonherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53 Note: Prints only very short LTEs. Author: Gary J. Remal MEDICAL POT FOES, OPPONENTS AGREE: NEW RULES FLAWED Rules governing the sale of medical marijuana in the Bay State adopted yesterday by the state's Public Health Council left proponents wishing for more flexibility and opponents worried that the new regulations, effective May 24, may invite abuse. Heidi Heilman of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance said the law passed by voters last November was fatally flawed in ways council regulations could not repair. "We've essentially legalized marijuana under the guise of medicine, without any of the regulation." For instance, Heilman said, the 10-ounce limit would not prevent concentrated forms with hundreds of thousands of times more impact. "It has to do with big marijuana and how they wrote the law," Heilman said. "The Department of Public Health tried their best, but they can't rewrite the statute." The council, an advisory body of the Department of Public Health, had the final say on the rules and approved them yesterday. Matthew J. Allen, director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, praised council members for listening to people who need marijuana therapy. "These regulations demonstrate a dedication to ensuring safe access for patients while including strict controls to prevent misuse of the system," Allen said. The new rules let municipalities impose fees and zoning limits on any of the 35 nonprofit dispensaries - no more than five in each county - that are opened within their borders. Bill Downing of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, which advocates legalization of marijuana, said the rules over-regulate medical marijuana. "It's pretty clear to any objective observer that these regulations are very stringent, in that they require all kinds of extra providers' checks in order to get recommendations to patients," Downing said. But Dr. James B. Broadhurst, who led the Massachusetts Medical Society's inquiry into the issue, said the panel failed to adopt the stricter definition of the doctor-patient relationship recommended by the Board of Registration in Medicine. "I want the regulations to target the people presented as the face of the ballot initiative, those folks the voters said yes to," Broadhurst said. "I don't think the voters want to arbitrarily increase the supply of marijuana and the risk." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom