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Medical marijuana patients are required to authorize growers to transport patient plants to licensed dispensaries under Oregon's new law – which is going to mean filling out a government form.
What that form will look like and how its requirements will be enforced is one topic the newly selected members of Oregon's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Law Rules Advisory Committee plan to tackle starting with its first meeting Sept. 20.
Oregon's legislature passed a bill approving medical marijuana retail establishments and created a registry for hundreds of businesses that want to sell medical marijuana during the 2013 legislative session. What lawmakers didn't do was write rules covering things like oversight and paperwork – they gave that job to the Oregon Health Authority, which in turn created a 13-member committee to meet with experts and make recommendations.
"We intentionally gave very broad rule-making authority," said Geoff Sugerman, a lobbyist from Silverton who helped draft the dispensary law.
Sugerman, who is one of the 13 committee members, said one area he wants to focus on is security.
"We have to figure out how transactions are monitored so that everything that goes in and everything that comes out is tracked or monitored so we know that it is coming from legally registered grow sites and going to legally registered patients," Sugerman said.
He pointed to a flaw in Colorado's plan to record plants every moment from seed to sale. "They don't have anybody to look at it, so nobody is really monitoring that stuff," Sugerman said.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who worked on the bill and will serve on the committee, wants to focus on quality control issues.
"I consider patient safety No. 1," Prozanski said. "Patient safety to me includes not only the availability of the medicine but the purity of the medicine."
He hopes to craft strict regulations regarding testing for things such as pesticides and mold.
Some regulations for dispensaries were defined in the bill. For example, dispensaries are not permitted in residential areas and can't grow medical marijuana inside their shops. The state also will run background checks on employees, audit stores and conduct on-site safety inspections.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber wrote in a signing statement attached to the bill in August that he believes "it will be critical to set fees for dispensaries that will provide sufficient funding to OHA so that they can be extraordinarily vigorous in their enforcement of the rules that are developed."
One criticism of the committee is that it doesn't include a medical marijuana patient. Prozanski pointed out that the committee plans to consult with a number of individuals and experts throughout the rule-making process.
"I believe everyone will be bringing something to the table that will be of value," Prozanski said.
OHA has until March 1, 2014, to present its set of regulations. Sugerman anticipated that the committee would finish its work in January for two reasons: The time frame would allow for public commentary on the proposed rules and it would allow the legislature to act on creating any new rules or regulations during the 2014 session.
"I have a lot of respect for the health authority and the folks who are operating the program," Sugerman said. "I'll be happy to work with everyone on the committee."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: statesmanjournal.com
Author: Anna Staver
What that form will look like and how its requirements will be enforced is one topic the newly selected members of Oregon's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Law Rules Advisory Committee plan to tackle starting with its first meeting Sept. 20.
Oregon's legislature passed a bill approving medical marijuana retail establishments and created a registry for hundreds of businesses that want to sell medical marijuana during the 2013 legislative session. What lawmakers didn't do was write rules covering things like oversight and paperwork – they gave that job to the Oregon Health Authority, which in turn created a 13-member committee to meet with experts and make recommendations.
"We intentionally gave very broad rule-making authority," said Geoff Sugerman, a lobbyist from Silverton who helped draft the dispensary law.
Sugerman, who is one of the 13 committee members, said one area he wants to focus on is security.
"We have to figure out how transactions are monitored so that everything that goes in and everything that comes out is tracked or monitored so we know that it is coming from legally registered grow sites and going to legally registered patients," Sugerman said.
He pointed to a flaw in Colorado's plan to record plants every moment from seed to sale. "They don't have anybody to look at it, so nobody is really monitoring that stuff," Sugerman said.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who worked on the bill and will serve on the committee, wants to focus on quality control issues.
"I consider patient safety No. 1," Prozanski said. "Patient safety to me includes not only the availability of the medicine but the purity of the medicine."
He hopes to craft strict regulations regarding testing for things such as pesticides and mold.
Some regulations for dispensaries were defined in the bill. For example, dispensaries are not permitted in residential areas and can't grow medical marijuana inside their shops. The state also will run background checks on employees, audit stores and conduct on-site safety inspections.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber wrote in a signing statement attached to the bill in August that he believes "it will be critical to set fees for dispensaries that will provide sufficient funding to OHA so that they can be extraordinarily vigorous in their enforcement of the rules that are developed."
One criticism of the committee is that it doesn't include a medical marijuana patient. Prozanski pointed out that the committee plans to consult with a number of individuals and experts throughout the rule-making process.
"I believe everyone will be bringing something to the table that will be of value," Prozanski said.
OHA has until March 1, 2014, to present its set of regulations. Sugerman anticipated that the committee would finish its work in January for two reasons: The time frame would allow for public commentary on the proposed rules and it would allow the legislature to act on creating any new rules or regulations during the 2014 session.
"I have a lot of respect for the health authority and the folks who are operating the program," Sugerman said. "I'll be happy to work with everyone on the committee."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: statesmanjournal.com
Author: Anna Staver
