Pubdate: Thu, 28 Aug 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Page: 16

A MEDICINAL PLANT

Proposed Maryland rules on access to medical marijuana are so 
restrictive that many patients may never be able to receive it

Astate commission meeting this week to draft rules governing access 
to medical marijuana by patients and physicians has left advocates 
for the drug's therapeutic use wondering whether it will ever become 
available to those who need it. The commissioners need to balance the 
scientific and medical issues raised by medical marijuana against the 
legal constraints imposed by state and federal statutes.

But in trying to walk a fine line between the two, the panel appears 
to have crafted rules that in some instances are so restrictive that 
many patients with illnesses that could be treated with the drug may 
never be able to get it.

That would defeat the whole purpose of Maryland's medical marijuana 
law, which has already been delayed once since its passage in 2013. 
In trying to avoid every conceivable abuse that might occur under the 
program before it even starts, the state runs the risk of hedging its 
bet with so many legal hurdles that for all practical purposes the 
law may as well not exist.

Some of the requirements and restrictions aired by the commission 
this week would potentially disqualify thousands of patients whose 
doctors otherwise might have no problem recommending them for 
marijuana therapy.

For example, the rules would disqualify all patients with a history 
of substance abuse, no matter how long ago it occurred. Under that 
restriction, a 65-year-old cancer patient who was arrested for having 
a joint in his pocket when he was a teenager couldn't get medical 
marijuana to alleviate the nausea and other side effects of 
chemotherapy treatments. Where's the sense in that if the point of 
the legislation is to ease such suffering?

Another rule would disqualify anyone convicted of a misdemeanor in 
the previous five years, including nonviolent crimes and traffic 
violations. But what do such petty offenses have to do with 
determining whether a doctor can recommend medical marijuana to 
relieve the symptoms of AIDS patients or the neurological and 
muscular disorders suffered by people with multiple sclerosis or 
epilepsy? The restriction seems unnecessarily punitive in a way that 
suggests its only real purpose is to prevent as many people as 
possible from benefiting from the drug even in cases where they 
clearly could be helped by it.

Other rules seem deliberately designed to erect obstacles in the way 
of people gaining access to medical marijuana even after a doctor has 
recommended it. One proposed restriction, for example, would require 
medical marijuana growers to keep at least two employees on site 24 
hours a day seven days a week. Presumably that requirement is aimed 
at protecting the crops from poachers who might steal onto unattended 
properties and help themselves to the plants while no one is 
watching. But a gated fence or other locked enclosure would do the 
job just as well. That's what we do to protect the wares of gun 
stores, pharmacies or other businesses with regulated inventory that 
shut down overnight.

Similarly, another rule would forbid a marijuana dispensary or 
growing operation from being located within 500 feet of a school, day 
care center, church or playground. That would effectively ban access 
to medical marijuana in densely populated urban areas like Baltimore, 
where the needs are greatest, and limit such businesses to suburban 
and rural areas of the state that are difficult or impossible to 
reach for people without cars. It's another example of the state 
seemingly going out of its way to prevent people from benefiting from 
the medical marijuana law even if they qualify for the therapy.

Maryland has a legitimate interest in making sure the state's medical 
marijuana program isn't misused by people who simply want to exploit 
it for recreational purposes, something that has happened in some 
other states that have legalized the drug for medical use. And the 
commission is right to steer clear of policies that could expose 
patients and their physicians to possible legal jeopardy under 
federal laws that still classify marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled 
substance along with drugs like heroin and LSD.

But advocates of the therapy are right to be concerned that Maryland 
doesn't overcompensate by creating a medical marijuana program so 
laden with restrictions and obstacles to access that it fails to help 
the very people it was intended to benefit.

A legal medical marijuana program is supported by an overwhelming 
majority of Maryland voters and the state has got to find a middle 
ground that enables those patients who have a legitimate need to use 
it while minimizing its potential for abuse.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom