Pubdate: Mon, 08 Jul 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: Christine Mcconville

STATE'S HIGH ON HIGH TECH TO TRACK MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Seeks IT Program to Track Medical Weed

Medical marijuana is about to become a high-tech endeavor in 
Massachusetts, with the state exploring the acquisition of what is 
likely to be a multimillion-dollar IT program to monitor the 
so-called seed-to-sale production, transport and handling of what 
will continue to be a controlled substance.

The state is soliciting for consultants to advise regulators of the 
state's new medical marijuana industry on how long it would take, and 
how much work would be required, to build a computer software system 
to handle "the Medical Marijuana Systems Project," according to a 
state Executive Office of Health and Human Services request for information.

The state's RFI lands nine months after Bay State voters agreed to 
let qualified sick people use marijuana.

Though marijuana is still banned under federal law, Massachusetts is 
among more than a dozen states that have legalized it for medicinal reasons.

One company that produced medical marijuana tracking software, MJ 
Freeway of Colorado, has already hired local lobbyists, the Herald 
reported last month, as part of a broader story on the big business 
behind medical marijuana.

The Department of Public Health's medical marijuana rules call for 
the creation of "a single electronic system" that would "capture 
everything that happens to an individual marijuana plant, from seed 
and cultivation" to final sale, adding that the "system shall 
chronicle every step, ingredient, activity, transaction, and 
dispensary agent, registered qualifying patient, or personal 
caregiver who handles, obtains, or possesses the product. This system 
shall utilize a unique plant identification and unique batch identification."

The state hasn't said how much it expects to spend on a system. A DPH 
spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But officials say the multi-million dollar business will be "revenue 
neutral." The fees people pay to sell and use medicinal marijuana are 
expected to cover the state's costs of enacting and enforcing the new 
law. The state wants dispensary operators to pay annual $50,000 
license fees and place $500,000 in escrow, making it unlikely small 
providers can enter the business.

Some of the state's past IT procurements have been problematic.

Former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi was convicted of conspiracy, 
mail fraud, wire fraud, and extortion, in connection with a state 
decision to award Cognos, a former Canadian software company, $17.5 
million in two separate contracts. DiMasi's downfall came after 
investigators found that former Cognos salesman Joseph Lally paid 
$600,000 to a DiMasi associate on the day the state paid Cognos.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom