Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10

TRACKING POT USE IS SMART

Thanks to a contract with a Florida-based software company, New 
Mexico's medical marijuana retailers will be able to scan a photo-ID 
smartcard from each of the state's 14,000 or so authorized pot 
patients and see how much state-sanctioned weed they have purchased, 
and from whom. Patrick Vo, co-CEO of BioTrackTHC, says his firm's 
work "is going to be a huge protection to the dispensary to make sure 
they don't unintentionally break regs by over-dispensing to a patient."

The DOH has cut what could be a $58,000 deal with BioTrackTHC for a 
"seed-to-sale" inventory system designed to track each plant through 
the production cycle. Vo says, "We have now married the inventory to 
the patient tracking. ... It prevents black-market product from 
getting into the system. It prevents product from getting out so that 
it doesn't get into the hands of kids. It keeps the federal 
government comfortable."

All good things considering marijuana is illegal under federal law. 
But what about the comfort of patients? The public? DOH's secrecy to 
date has resulted in medical marijuana shortages, price gouging and 
poor quality, according to some patients - all believable considering 
it's not covered by insurance. And it has allowed individuals with 
criminal records to apply for dispensary licenses in secret and the 
vast majority of prescriptions to be written for the 
hardest-to-pinpoint of 19 conditions, with a high rate coming from a 
small number of physicians in rural counties.

If DOH is finally serious about making this program accountable, it 
will do more than track marijuana plants from seed to weed. It will 
put the growers and prescribers it licenses in the sunlight as well.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom