Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Rick Gilliland looked forward to three days of office hours at the Bend branch of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, a clinic on NE Third Street.
More than 150 people had signed up for consultations with a visiting physician who, for a fee, would review their medical records and their applications for state medical marijuana cards. Close to half the appointments were first-time applicants: some new to marijuana as a medicine, others probably looking for a way to buy marijuana without paying the state tax on sales of recreational marijuana when it becomes legal next year, Gilliland said last week..
"I get a little bit sad to think that's what it took to get them to come get their card," said Gilliland, 53, who said he uses medical pot for pain relief after a near-fatal auto accident.
"Now that it's legal, I think there's a big push on the medical swing. My new patient rate has gone way up, that's an amazing factor."
Not that obtaining a medical marijuana card through the THCF clinic is a sure thing, he said. State law requires applicants show they suffer from a qualifying condition, and cards must be renewed annually.
"That fence is tall, buddy," he said. "And you're not getting over unless you clearly get over it." Later, he said about 135 people qualified for a card. The clinic pre-screens applicants, so Gilliland expected most would qualify for a card. Paperwork errors are usually to blame for those who don't, he said.
More and more people in Oregon are clearing that fence. That, in turn, is contributing to a change in public attitude toward the drug, which becomes legal for personal possession in the state July 1 and for recreational sale in 2016. A survey by the Pew Research Center in April showed a continuing rise in the number of people nationwide who support legalized marijuana, now at 53 percent. In 2006, by contrast, 32 percent of those surveyed supported legalization, while 60 percent opposed.
"There is a phase shift," said Seth Crawford, a sociology instructor at Oregon State University whose first two classes on marijuana policy in Corvallis this year were fully enrolled. He cited the Pew survey, which found that those in favor of legalizing marijuana "are far more likely than opponents" to say they had changed their mind on the issue. Across all age groups, the percentage in favor of legalizing marijuana has increased steadily since 1990, according to the survey.
"They attribute that to people being exposed to medical marijuana programs," Crawford said last week, "and the sky did not fall."
Policymakers and the public alike should remember the potential marijuana carries for abuse, said Evelyn Brust, a naturopathic medicine practitioner and acupuncturist in Bend . Brust, who runs the Westside Family Clinic on Galveston Avenue, said she recognizes the value of medical marijuana, but opposes her neighbor's plan to lease his building for a medical marijuana dispensary. The site is too close to local bars, a day care and an elementary school, she said.
"I'm not against the use of marijuana for recreation or medicinal marijuana, absolutely not. It's an herb and I specialize in natural medicine," Brust said Friday. "But, like alcohol, just because it's legal doesn't mean that any 16-year-old can go into a bar and drink. Because it's legal you can't drink and drive. It's legal, but society has made rules because when it's abused society pays a really high price."
The Oregon Health Authority lists 13 medical marijuana dispensaries in Bend, about one for every 300 medical marijuana patients in Deschutes County. In April, the agency counted more than 3,600 medical marijuana patients in the county, 120 more than it counted in January, according to the agency's quarterly reports. In January 2006, it reported 289 cardholders in the county.
Statewide, the number of applicants for medical marijuana cards, both new and renewals, peaked at nearly 70,000 in summer 2014, nearly 1,400 more than the previous summer. In January 2006, just 11,853 medical marijuana patients held cards in Oregon.
Meanwhile, the coming of legal recreational marijuana is focusing attention on medical marijuana growers, who are largely unregulated and who supply both approved cardholders and the dispensaries that sell marijuana to other cardholders.
Measure 91, passed by voters in November, legalizes personal possession and eventual retail sales of marijuana, but left untouched the separate but parallel system that governs medical marijuana. Authorities have been concerned that growers of medical marijuana, largely unregulated, are supplying a black market for the drug, although how much they provide is difficult to determine.
Nonetheless, the legislative Joint Committee on Implementing Measure 91 came to an impasse last week on the question of local control over medical marijuana dispensaries. Afterward, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, created a separate Senate committee, which moved first to consider a bill aimed at cracking down on medical marijuana growers diverting their product to the black market.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission is drafting regulations on the sale of recreational marijuana. The continuing rule-making and legislative maneuvering has prospective retail marijuana entrepreneurs, some of them already in the medical marijuana business, in limbo.
"Everybody is waiting to see what happens," said Bend attorney Michael Hughes, who represents a handful of Bend dispensaries. Hughes said he uses medical marijuana for a leg injury; he said he also has long experience growing hemp and cannabis.
Illegal growers still exist, but the incentive for a black market is declining, he said.
Estimates that as much as two-thirds of marijuana grown for medical purposes ends up on the black market are too high, Hughes said. With recreational marijuana available legally in Colorado and Washington , black market marijuana doesn't bring the prices it used to. Some growers are simply giving marijuana to cardholders for free just so they can grow more pot to sell to dispensaries, which accounts for some of the unaccounted-for product, he said.
"That black market scenario has changed drastically in the last year," Hughes said, "just because out-of-state prices aren't what they were and, hey, ... even if I'm getting less for my cannabis at the dispensary, the risk isn't there."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Full Article: Medical marijuana changes attitudes on recreational pot; The number of medical cardholders in Deschutes County continues to increase
Author: Joseph Ditzler
Contact: jditzler@bendbulletin.com
Photo Credit: Brennan Linsley-AP
Website: Bend & Central Oregon Local News, Sports, Weather, and Lifestyle
More than 150 people had signed up for consultations with a visiting physician who, for a fee, would review their medical records and their applications for state medical marijuana cards. Close to half the appointments were first-time applicants: some new to marijuana as a medicine, others probably looking for a way to buy marijuana without paying the state tax on sales of recreational marijuana when it becomes legal next year, Gilliland said last week..
"I get a little bit sad to think that's what it took to get them to come get their card," said Gilliland, 53, who said he uses medical pot for pain relief after a near-fatal auto accident.
"Now that it's legal, I think there's a big push on the medical swing. My new patient rate has gone way up, that's an amazing factor."
Not that obtaining a medical marijuana card through the THCF clinic is a sure thing, he said. State law requires applicants show they suffer from a qualifying condition, and cards must be renewed annually.
"That fence is tall, buddy," he said. "And you're not getting over unless you clearly get over it." Later, he said about 135 people qualified for a card. The clinic pre-screens applicants, so Gilliland expected most would qualify for a card. Paperwork errors are usually to blame for those who don't, he said.
More and more people in Oregon are clearing that fence. That, in turn, is contributing to a change in public attitude toward the drug, which becomes legal for personal possession in the state July 1 and for recreational sale in 2016. A survey by the Pew Research Center in April showed a continuing rise in the number of people nationwide who support legalized marijuana, now at 53 percent. In 2006, by contrast, 32 percent of those surveyed supported legalization, while 60 percent opposed.
"There is a phase shift," said Seth Crawford, a sociology instructor at Oregon State University whose first two classes on marijuana policy in Corvallis this year were fully enrolled. He cited the Pew survey, which found that those in favor of legalizing marijuana "are far more likely than opponents" to say they had changed their mind on the issue. Across all age groups, the percentage in favor of legalizing marijuana has increased steadily since 1990, according to the survey.
"They attribute that to people being exposed to medical marijuana programs," Crawford said last week, "and the sky did not fall."
Policymakers and the public alike should remember the potential marijuana carries for abuse, said Evelyn Brust, a naturopathic medicine practitioner and acupuncturist in Bend . Brust, who runs the Westside Family Clinic on Galveston Avenue, said she recognizes the value of medical marijuana, but opposes her neighbor's plan to lease his building for a medical marijuana dispensary. The site is too close to local bars, a day care and an elementary school, she said.
"I'm not against the use of marijuana for recreation or medicinal marijuana, absolutely not. It's an herb and I specialize in natural medicine," Brust said Friday. "But, like alcohol, just because it's legal doesn't mean that any 16-year-old can go into a bar and drink. Because it's legal you can't drink and drive. It's legal, but society has made rules because when it's abused society pays a really high price."
The Oregon Health Authority lists 13 medical marijuana dispensaries in Bend, about one for every 300 medical marijuana patients in Deschutes County. In April, the agency counted more than 3,600 medical marijuana patients in the county, 120 more than it counted in January, according to the agency's quarterly reports. In January 2006, it reported 289 cardholders in the county.
Statewide, the number of applicants for medical marijuana cards, both new and renewals, peaked at nearly 70,000 in summer 2014, nearly 1,400 more than the previous summer. In January 2006, just 11,853 medical marijuana patients held cards in Oregon.
Meanwhile, the coming of legal recreational marijuana is focusing attention on medical marijuana growers, who are largely unregulated and who supply both approved cardholders and the dispensaries that sell marijuana to other cardholders.
Measure 91, passed by voters in November, legalizes personal possession and eventual retail sales of marijuana, but left untouched the separate but parallel system that governs medical marijuana. Authorities have been concerned that growers of medical marijuana, largely unregulated, are supplying a black market for the drug, although how much they provide is difficult to determine.
Nonetheless, the legislative Joint Committee on Implementing Measure 91 came to an impasse last week on the question of local control over medical marijuana dispensaries. Afterward, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, created a separate Senate committee, which moved first to consider a bill aimed at cracking down on medical marijuana growers diverting their product to the black market.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission is drafting regulations on the sale of recreational marijuana. The continuing rule-making and legislative maneuvering has prospective retail marijuana entrepreneurs, some of them already in the medical marijuana business, in limbo.
"Everybody is waiting to see what happens," said Bend attorney Michael Hughes, who represents a handful of Bend dispensaries. Hughes said he uses medical marijuana for a leg injury; he said he also has long experience growing hemp and cannabis.
Illegal growers still exist, but the incentive for a black market is declining, he said.
Estimates that as much as two-thirds of marijuana grown for medical purposes ends up on the black market are too high, Hughes said. With recreational marijuana available legally in Colorado and Washington , black market marijuana doesn't bring the prices it used to. Some growers are simply giving marijuana to cardholders for free just so they can grow more pot to sell to dispensaries, which accounts for some of the unaccounted-for product, he said.
"That black market scenario has changed drastically in the last year," Hughes said, "just because out-of-state prices aren't what they were and, hey, ... even if I'm getting less for my cannabis at the dispensary, the risk isn't there."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Full Article: Medical marijuana changes attitudes on recreational pot; The number of medical cardholders in Deschutes County continues to increase
Author: Joseph Ditzler
Contact: jditzler@bendbulletin.com
Photo Credit: Brennan Linsley-AP
Website: Bend & Central Oregon Local News, Sports, Weather, and Lifestyle
