Pubdate: Tue, 21 Oct 2014
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/sendletter
Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Frank Miller

NEED POT SAFEGUARDS

Dr. Paul Sloan and others make a strong case for the use of cannabis
as a better alternative to pain management than opiates ("Clinic owner
makes pot case," Sunday's Herald-Tribune). The problem is not the
joint, but the "joints" from which it will be dispensed. While doctors
must write the prescription, dispensaries will, in reality, be
approved and licensed by politicians and bureaucrats. I don't see any
potential for abuse there, do you?

The photo in Sunday's edition of the Herald-Tribune, of a California
dispensary, doesn't look like any drugstore I've seen, nor does the
clerk look like a pharmacist properly trained to fill a doctor's
order, verify the patient's identity, and record and store the
transaction's information.

Cannabis can be formulated in many ways, I'm sure, by trained,
licensed pharmacologists and pharmacists -- just as opium is
formulated into its many forms. It can certainly be put into a form
(even smokeable) that is medically effective and safely dispensed from
the licensed pharmacies in our state.

When this amendment incorporates such safeguards, I will happily vote
yes; for now, I will vote no.

Frank Miller

Sarasota 
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MAP posted-by: Richard