Pubdate: Tue, 02 Dec 2014
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Erin Smith
Page: 10

SELLER: CBD OK, SINCE IT ISN'T POT

A self-described medical marijuana activist selling pot-derived 
products out of an Allston storefront insists he's within the law and 
state officials have no business trying to shut him down.

"I'm not regulated with the Department of Public Health and I don't 
need to be," said Bill Downing. "I don't think you'll find CBD in the 
regulations, so it's none of their business. Unless it's made 
illegal, it's not."

Downing said he began selling food syringes and oils with cannabidiol 
- - or CBD, a compound found in marijuana - several months ago from his 
shop, CBD Please. CBD does not produce the high of THC found in 
marijuana but is still classified as an illegal substance in much of 
the country.

Massachusetts regulations require licenses for anyone selling or 
providing medical marijuana products.

DPH officials did not specifically address questions about Downing's 
business, but said in a statement: "The Massachusetts Medical Use of 
Marijuana Program regulates and certifies registered marijuana 
dispensaries in compliance with Massachusetts law on medical use of 
marijuana. Outside of that, anyone who cultivates, transports, 
possesses, distributes or sells marijuana in violation of 
Massachusetts law may be subject to law enforcement action."

Downing has pushed back against pot regulations before. He and nearly 
two dozen of his patients are suing the state after DPH sent him a 
cease-and-desist order last summer when they found out he was acting 
as a caregiver to more than 1,000 patients and providing them with 
marijuana bought on the black market.

Downing said the lawsuit is challenging state regulations that allow 
caregivers who are not part of a licensed dispensary to provide pot 
for only one patient at a time.

"There is nothing in the law that give the Department of Public 
Health the authority to regulate caregiving," said Downing's 
attorney, Steven S. Epstein. "It's not about him. It's about the 
patients - the patients who were cut off from a reliable source of medicine."

Downing said he no longer deals in black-market marijuana and told 
the Herald the small pile of pot on his coffee table yesterday was 
his own personal stash, noting his medical marijuana patient 
certificate on the wall - for gout.

"The whole point here is the Department of Public Health has been 
unable to deliver medical cannabis," said Downing. "It's been two 
years since voters approved it, and patients are sick and tired of 
waiting, and they don't need to."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom