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Dispensary owners, patients and advocates of medical marijuana are asking state lawmakers to reconsider an attempt to repeal the 2010 law that legalized the drug to treat certain medical conditions.
Instead of taking the medical marijuana issue back to voters, they urged the Legislature Thursday to clamp down on unregulated marijuana clubs – often called "compassion clubs," – to ensure patients receive their recommended drugs within the guidelines of the new law.
There are no provisions for such clubs in the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, and they are not regulated by the Department of Health Services, which oversees the medical marijuana program and regulates dispensaries where patients and caregivers can legally buy marijuana.
The compassion clubs typically ask patients to pay a fee to obtain marijuana even though the law does not allow people to exchange anything of value for the drug except in dispensaries. However, the clubs popped up statewide as patients waited for the opening of dispensaries, which were delayed because of prolonged legal battles between medical marijuana advocates and state and county officials. In a few known instances, law enforcement has taken action against the clubs. In the two most high profile cases, police raided the clubs and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office prosecuted the operators under existing drug laws.
Ryan Hurley, an attorney specializing in medical marijuana law, said the law should not be repealed, but that police, prosecutors and lawmakers, should target the unregulated clubs to ensure patients receive their medication in a controlled and secure environment.
"If there are abuses in the system, that's where they can be addressed, with law enforcement, the Department of Health Services, (and) we're happy to work with the Arizona Legislature to regulate and to reform, where needed," he said.
Medical marijuana advocates say lawmakers who want to repeal the law either don't understand how the drug helps patients, or they are putting their politics before the will of voters.
Jim Dyer, 60, a Republican and former attorney said during a Thursday news conference that conventional painkillers and muscle relaxants aren't an effective treatment for his Multiple Sclerosis because they put him to sleep or further affect his muscles. Medical cannabis, he said, is the only remedy.
"I don't understand why the legislature wants to get in the face of the voters again and tell them, oh hey, we want you to vote on this again,'" he said. "That's insulting to me, and it should be insulting to the rest of the voters in Arizona."
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, has introduced a bill that would refer the marijuana law back to the ballot in November 2014. House Concurrent Resolution 2003 would require the Legislature's approval but not Gov. Jan Brewer's signature.
Kavanagh said voters deserve the right to rethink whether the law, approved by them in 2010, should have passed in the first place, pointing out that voters approved the law by a narrow margin of about 4,300 votes.
He said the program is seriously flawed, citing recent findings that only a portion of the state's physicians are recommending marijuana, that some teens report they are obtaining pot from medical-marijuana cardholders, and that most patients are citing chronic pain as debilitating conditions –not cancer, as he says voters were led to believe.
Kavanagh questioned the effectiveness of marijuana in treating medical conditions and cited a decision by a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which rejected a petition to reclassify marijuana from its status as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use.
"There are so many yellow flags that say this program is full of abuse ... that the voters should be allowed to reconsider," he said. "Everybody's heart has to go out to people who have debilitating and painful illnesses, and mine does also. But these people have to be protected from ineffective and dangerous drugs."
About 34,000 Arizonans are allowed to smoke or grow marijuana, according to the state Department of Health Services. Of them, 3.76 percent use marijuana to ease cancer symptoms; less than 2 percent cite glaucoma. The overwhelming majority, 90 percent, cite severe and chronic pain.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: azcentral.com
Author: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
Instead of taking the medical marijuana issue back to voters, they urged the Legislature Thursday to clamp down on unregulated marijuana clubs – often called "compassion clubs," – to ensure patients receive their recommended drugs within the guidelines of the new law.
There are no provisions for such clubs in the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, and they are not regulated by the Department of Health Services, which oversees the medical marijuana program and regulates dispensaries where patients and caregivers can legally buy marijuana.
The compassion clubs typically ask patients to pay a fee to obtain marijuana even though the law does not allow people to exchange anything of value for the drug except in dispensaries. However, the clubs popped up statewide as patients waited for the opening of dispensaries, which were delayed because of prolonged legal battles between medical marijuana advocates and state and county officials. In a few known instances, law enforcement has taken action against the clubs. In the two most high profile cases, police raided the clubs and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office prosecuted the operators under existing drug laws.
Ryan Hurley, an attorney specializing in medical marijuana law, said the law should not be repealed, but that police, prosecutors and lawmakers, should target the unregulated clubs to ensure patients receive their medication in a controlled and secure environment.
"If there are abuses in the system, that's where they can be addressed, with law enforcement, the Department of Health Services, (and) we're happy to work with the Arizona Legislature to regulate and to reform, where needed," he said.
Medical marijuana advocates say lawmakers who want to repeal the law either don't understand how the drug helps patients, or they are putting their politics before the will of voters.
Jim Dyer, 60, a Republican and former attorney said during a Thursday news conference that conventional painkillers and muscle relaxants aren't an effective treatment for his Multiple Sclerosis because they put him to sleep or further affect his muscles. Medical cannabis, he said, is the only remedy.
"I don't understand why the legislature wants to get in the face of the voters again and tell them, oh hey, we want you to vote on this again,'" he said. "That's insulting to me, and it should be insulting to the rest of the voters in Arizona."
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, has introduced a bill that would refer the marijuana law back to the ballot in November 2014. House Concurrent Resolution 2003 would require the Legislature's approval but not Gov. Jan Brewer's signature.
Kavanagh said voters deserve the right to rethink whether the law, approved by them in 2010, should have passed in the first place, pointing out that voters approved the law by a narrow margin of about 4,300 votes.
He said the program is seriously flawed, citing recent findings that only a portion of the state's physicians are recommending marijuana, that some teens report they are obtaining pot from medical-marijuana cardholders, and that most patients are citing chronic pain as debilitating conditions –not cancer, as he says voters were led to believe.
Kavanagh questioned the effectiveness of marijuana in treating medical conditions and cited a decision by a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which rejected a petition to reclassify marijuana from its status as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use.
"There are so many yellow flags that say this program is full of abuse ... that the voters should be allowed to reconsider," he said. "Everybody's heart has to go out to people who have debilitating and painful illnesses, and mine does also. But these people have to be protected from ineffective and dangerous drugs."
About 34,000 Arizonans are allowed to smoke or grow marijuana, according to the state Department of Health Services. Of them, 3.76 percent use marijuana to ease cancer symptoms; less than 2 percent cite glaucoma. The overwhelming majority, 90 percent, cite severe and chronic pain.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: azcentral.com
Author: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
