Category Archives: Medical Marijuana

Massachusetts medical marijuana patients can grow their own medicine

March 31, 2013   admin

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health released draft regulations on March 29th. Considered one of the most thorough regulation efforts in medical marijuana states, commonwealth patients meeting low income and other requirements are allowed to grow their own cannabis medicine.

The requirements for patients or their caregiver for growing marijuana include:

  • Financial hardship – Defined by 133% of the national poverty level guidelines
  • Physical incapacity – to access reasonable transportation
  • Lack of MMTC – (Dispensary) within a reasonable distance and lack of delivery service available

Until the expected 35 dispensaries are up and running it’s safe to assume all patients will be allowed to cultivate medical marijuana in Massachusetts. Financial hardship is defined by an individual who is a recipient of MassHealth, or Supplemental Security Income, or the individual’s income does not exceed 133% of the federal poverty level, adjusted for family size. See the accompanying table.

Family Size Annual Income
1
$15,282
2
$20,628
3
$25,975
4
$31,322
5
$36,668
6
$42,015
7
$47,361
8
$52,708

Personal Caregiver means a person, registered by the Department, who is at least 21 years old who has agreed to assist with a registered qualifying patient’s medical use of marijuana, and is not the registered qualifying patient’s certifying physician. Where a registered qualifying patient is under 18 years of age, he or she must have a personal caregiver who is his or her parent or legal guardian. An employee of a hospice provider, nursing, or medical facility providing care to a qualifying patient may serve as a personal caregiver, including to patients under 18 years of age.

Caregivers not working at a medical facility can’t be compensated for any duties or have more than 1 patient. While a qualifying patient can have a limit of 2 caregivers, only one caregiver is allowed to cultivate marijuana for the patient.

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The regulations try to limit the number of patients growing at home by requiring all dispensaries to provide free or low cost marijuana to qualified low income patients. Patients are further limited to possessing a 2 month supply of marijuana, which the agency considers to be 10 ounces. Absent are any plant limits, other than enough to supply the patient for 2 months. Other interesting regulations call for all dispensaries to have vaporizers for sale, dispensaries must grow all their own marijuana and bake their own edibles.

While this guide overviews the regulations concerning Massachusetts patientsgrowing their own medicine, patients considering cultivation are encouraged to read the regulations 725.035: Hardship Cultivation Registration which can be found here.

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Changing Metaphors in Mid-stream

December 08, 2012   admin

Hippy Holidays frow weGrow

Author: Buford C. Terrell – Controlled substances laws and their consequences have been the center of my professional life for over fifteen years. I host a public interest television program in Houston, “Drugs, Crime, and Politics” , produced by the Drug Policy forum of Texas…

For at least a generation drug law reformers have compared fighting against the Drug War to toppling a row of dominos – a metaphor that President Eisenhower first made popular by applying it to Viet Nam. But the first dominos have now toppled in Colorado and Washington, and a new metaphor is needed.

The problem is that the domino model doesn’t work once the first one has toppled. The dominos start out arranged in a set pattern, and when the first tile topples, the process goes in an orderly linear fashion. Each falling piece strikes the next in line until all have fallen. No surprises can occur.

The world of drug law reform is neither linear nor predetermined. Now that the first drug domino has fallen, the result is a picture of confusing possibilities and uncertainties. No single next-in-line patiently waits to be nudged.

An earthen dam provides a better metaphor of the future. It can be as big as the one whose failure destroyed Johnstown or as small as the one for the stock tank on my grandfather’s farm, but it’s easy to visualize. These dams are simple in concept: just pile dirt in a waterway until the stream is blocked. The higher it is, the more water it can retain; and the thicker it is, the stronger and more lasting.
Read The Whole Story….

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All Eyes on Arizona as Hearing in Landmark Medical Marijuana Court Case Approaches

October 11, 2012   Patrick

MMJBusinessDaily.com

The next few weeks will be extremely important ones for medical marijuana in Arizona.

On Oct. 19, a judge will hear oral arguments in the White Mountain Health Center vs. ADHS case, which pits the medical cannabis industry against local and state officials who want to shut down the whole MMJ program.

The stakes are high, as the outcome of the case could ultimately determine the fate of dispensaries and other cannabis-related businesses in Arizona and even other MMJ states.

The process is expected to move quickly after oral arguments, and observers say the judge could make an initial ruling by the end of the month.

White Mountain – a non-profit organization set up to open a dispensary in Arizona – filed the lawsuit after Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery declined to provide the required zoning documents for an MMJ center in the area.

Montgomery argues that federal laws trump the state’s MMJ program and has expressed concerns that allowing dispensaries to open would put city workers at risk of prosecution. He and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed separate motions for summary judgement on the case to help speed up the process. They have asked the court to dismiss the White Mountain suit, which would give them the legal justification they need to prevent dispensaries from opening.

“It is the county’s position that the AMMA is in direct violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act and therefore cannot be implemented without exposing county employees to the risk of federal prosecution,” Montgomery said in a recent press release. The state’s medical marijuana act, he added, “also runs afoul of the Supremacy Clause enshrined in the US Constitution by our Founding Fathers, which preempts state law that conflicts with federal law.”

If the judge rules in favor of the county, Arizona officials could theoretically seek to dismantle the state’s MMJ program. But if the court backs White Mountain, the county and state would have to abide by the medical cannabis law, and dispensaries would open up as planned.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union officially threw its weight behind the MMJ community, joining White Mountain’s lawsuit against the county.

The Arizona medical marijuana industry will gather Oct. 17 in a show of support for White Mountain at an event hosted by CannaJobs. Attendees will get updates about the case and advice as to how they should proceed with their MMJ business plans amid the current uncertainty.

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Appeals Court to Consider Benefits of Medical Marijuana

October 08, 2012   Patrick

The Wall Street Journal

For the first time in 20 years, a federal court will review scientific evidence on the therapeutic value of marijuana, as a legal challenge by a group of doctors, medical professionals and patients makes its way to the U.S. court of appeals in Washington, D.C., next week.

Americans for Safe Access is hoping the challenge will change the government’s classification of marijuana from a dangerous drug with no medical benefits, the Guardian reported. Other groups, such as the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the Federation of American Scientists and the American Academy of Family Physicians support either medical access to marijuana or its reclassification to one that has a medical benefit.

“Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court,” Joe Elford, chief counsel for ASA, told the Guardian. “This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana’s medical efficacy.”

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency rejected the ASA’s petition to reschedule marijuana, saying there wasn’t substantial evidence the drug should be removed from schedule 1. The DEA cited a five-year-old assessment from the Department of Health and Human Services that said there was no consensus in the medical community on the medical applications of marijuana.

In its reply brief, the ASA says the criteria used by the DEA and HHS to determine scheduling are flawed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in the case on Oct. 16.

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