Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2014
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Page: 8

A REDO ON POT LAW

It's hardly a secret that this state's medical marijuana law is a joke
and the hapless Department of Public Health's handling of dispensary
licenses has served only to confirm that.

The 2012 ballot initiative - envisioned by pot advocates as a mere way
station on the road to full legalization - included a laundry list of
"debilitating medical conditions" for which the drug could be
"prescribed," but the bottom line was it could be for any "other
conditions as determined in writing" by a "qualifying physician." That
might explain why those seeking licenses wanted to locate either as
near to college campuses as they could get or in areas that already
hosted, say, a methadone clinic.

The shoddy Massachusetts law now stands in marked contrast to a
medical marijuana bill just signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, which prohibits the use of any smokeable form of the drug.
That's right, New York just took the fun out of cannabis and will
attempt to actually provide those who could benefit from its use some
actual relief.

The law, which that state's public health regulators will have the
next 18 months to implement, allows only forms of the drug that can be
ingested or consumed as a vapor. And it permits the prescribing of it
for only 10 specific ailments listed in the legislation, including
epilepsy, AIDS and Parkinson's disease.

The state will approve up to five businesses to grow and distribute
the drug. Each operator could have up to four dispensaries statewide.

The New York law, particularly its ban on smoking, was hailed in a
Wall Street Journal op-ed by Dr. Steven Patierno, a professor at Duke
University School of Medicine and deputy director of the Duke Cancer
Institute, as "good science and an act of common sense."

The method of delivering the drug will help assure "fixed dosage
levels and safety monitoring" for purity. It will also help the
medical profession actually assess the effectiveness of the drug,
which can be standardized for potency of its active
ingredients.

Now unlike the ill-conceived ballot measure that passed here, New
York's law was carefully crafted by lawmakers. Massachusetts
legislators surely could have done the same here - it wouldn't have
been the first time the Legislature came in to tidy up the results of
a ballot question. With the current law now a proven disaster, it's
not too late to redo it, using the New York model.
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MAP posted-by: Matt