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Two medical clinics that will assess patients for medicinal pot are opening in Framingham and Cambridge in time for the new law that takes effect in January – proof, foes say, the ballot measure will encourage doctor shopping and make Massachusetts a marijuana mecca, while proponents insist they are just filling a need for alternative medicine.
"We're really in a place where the billion-dollar business is about to take off," said Massachusetts Prevention Alliance President Heidi Heilman. "The increased demand for marijuana will put us in a place where we have a soaring increase in supply. It's about greed and it's based on money."
Last month, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to allow state-regulated marijuana dispensaries to grow and disperse marijuana to state-approved patients, who are suffering from an assortment of ailments, including cancer, HIV and, as Heilman notes, unspecified "other conditions."
"There's that catch-all phrase," Heilman said. "It means you can get pot for anxiety or pain."
The law requires that patients have a recommendation from a doctor in order to buy pot from one of 35 dispensaries that can open in the first year. Doctors can't formally prescribe marijuana, since it is still illegal under federal law.
Last week, the California-based CannaMed began moving into its first Massachusetts location, in Framingham. Integr8 Massachusetts' website says its medical marijuana recommending clinic will open in Cambridge in January.
"We've been planning this for quite a while," said CannaMed regional manager Richard Tav. The firm's California patients, he said, are "baby boomers and people over age 50 who are sick of paying for medicines that degrade the quality of their life. What I see is a lot of people trying to benefit the quality of their life. I don't see a lot of kids trying to pull the wool over a doctor's eyes."
CannaMed charges patients $199 per visit, but only if they receive a medical marijuana recommendation, which would be good for one year.
"You don't pay if you don't get approved," said Tav. "It's mandatory that you have a pre-existing medical condition, and you've tried another remedy, and it hasn't worked. You have to have bona fide reasons."
Bruce Bedrick of Kind Clinics, which runs marijuana dispensaries in Arizona and California, said CannaMed and Integr8 are just responding to market conditions.
"It's not a frenzied free-for-all," he said, calling them "clinics trying to get a jump on the local doctors who don't know what they're doing yet."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bostonherald.com
Author: Christine McConville
Contact: Contact Us - BostonHerald.com
Website: Two medical marijuana clinics moving in - BostonHerald.com
"We're really in a place where the billion-dollar business is about to take off," said Massachusetts Prevention Alliance President Heidi Heilman. "The increased demand for marijuana will put us in a place where we have a soaring increase in supply. It's about greed and it's based on money."
Last month, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to allow state-regulated marijuana dispensaries to grow and disperse marijuana to state-approved patients, who are suffering from an assortment of ailments, including cancer, HIV and, as Heilman notes, unspecified "other conditions."
"There's that catch-all phrase," Heilman said. "It means you can get pot for anxiety or pain."
The law requires that patients have a recommendation from a doctor in order to buy pot from one of 35 dispensaries that can open in the first year. Doctors can't formally prescribe marijuana, since it is still illegal under federal law.
Last week, the California-based CannaMed began moving into its first Massachusetts location, in Framingham. Integr8 Massachusetts' website says its medical marijuana recommending clinic will open in Cambridge in January.
"We've been planning this for quite a while," said CannaMed regional manager Richard Tav. The firm's California patients, he said, are "baby boomers and people over age 50 who are sick of paying for medicines that degrade the quality of their life. What I see is a lot of people trying to benefit the quality of their life. I don't see a lot of kids trying to pull the wool over a doctor's eyes."
CannaMed charges patients $199 per visit, but only if they receive a medical marijuana recommendation, which would be good for one year.
"You don't pay if you don't get approved," said Tav. "It's mandatory that you have a pre-existing medical condition, and you've tried another remedy, and it hasn't worked. You have to have bona fide reasons."
Bruce Bedrick of Kind Clinics, which runs marijuana dispensaries in Arizona and California, said CannaMed and Integr8 are just responding to market conditions.
"It's not a frenzied free-for-all," he said, calling them "clinics trying to get a jump on the local doctors who don't know what they're doing yet."
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: bostonherald.com
Author: Christine McConville
Contact: Contact Us - BostonHerald.com
Website: Two medical marijuana clinics moving in - BostonHerald.com
