Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Nearly five years after voters made marijuana legal for medical purposes, the Cape and Islands are still without a single dispensary, which has forced many patients to turn to the black market or legally questionable delivery services to purchase what they say is life-improving medicine.
With the opening of Theory Wellness in Bridgewater last week, the closest dispensary to Cape Cod is over 30 miles from the Bourne Bridge and an hour drive from Hyannis. Another Southeastern Massachusetts medical pot shop, In Good Health in Brockton, offers a state-approved legal delivery service across the region and is one of several companies with plans to open up a location on the peninsula. That dispensary regularly sees 700 Cape patients, according to David Noble, the company's president.
"We started the delivery service because we've seen over the course of 18 months (of being open) there was a tremendous number of disabled patients, patients who weren't able to get transportation or who weren't able to get to our facility or any of the 11 others," Noble said. "These patients shouldn't have to drive."
But patients say even those options can be too expensive, inconvenient or are completely inaccessible. It remains illegal under federal law, for example, to transport marijuana to the Islands via air or through federal waters. The relatively limited access to medical marijuana on the Cape and Islands illustrates that although statewide focus has turned to recreational marijuana, more work remains to be done to bring the drug to people who use it for medical purposes, advocates say.
"Patients are not being served on the Cape," said Michael Latulippe, development director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance. "The Cape is one of these areas, including the Islands, that has very little access at this time."
Many turn to delivery services listed on websites such as AllBud.com. About 10 companies that deliver serve the Cape and two serve Martha's Vineyard.
Among those patients is Grant Smith, 28, a Pocasset resident who is homebound due to a nerve condition that causes him chronic pain in his face and eye and renders him unable to see out of one eye.
"I can't get out of the house – driving to the dispensary to get my medical marijuana is not an option for me," he said.
After he balked at In Good Health's $50 delivery charge to the Cape, Smith turned to one of the services advertised on AllBud.
Some, such as Grassachusetts, describe themselves as nonprofit collectives of caregivers – people licensed by the state to purchase marijuana from dispensaries or grow it for a single licensed medical marijuana patient. Some caregivers, including those who are medical professionals, can serve multiple patients. But state officials say the services operate outside of the regulatory system.
"Third party medical marijuana delivery services (such as Cannabis Crew and Grassachusetts) are neither authorized nor regulated by the Department of Public Health," agency spokeswoman Ann Scales wrote in a statement.
Two licensed dispensaries, In Good Health and Patriot Care, are the only organizations in Massachusetts that are authorized to deliver marijuana to patients, she said.
Grassachusetts' website states the group operates in full accordance with caregiver regulations and under the guidance of its attorneys. A representative from the group declined to comment for this story and instead issued a statement.
"Our mission is to provide medicine to sick people and military veterans who are licensed patients," the statement says.
Nichole Snow, president of the Patient Advocacy Alliance, said she's hesitant to speak negatively about altruistic people in the cannabis community who operate in this legal uncertainty but said she remains concerned that patient safety could be compromised by lack of state oversight of the delivery services. By comparison, dispensaries are subjected to a high level of cleanliness and purity standards.
"The reason why there's licensing (of dispensaries) is so there's a vetting process, we know where the medicine comes from, so we know the patient is safe," she said. "We need to create a pathway for legitimacy for people who intend to help patients."
Though the recreational marijuana overhaul bill given the green light by the Legislature on Wednesday includes some changes to the medical regime, Snow and Latulippe said more can be done. They have lobbied, so far unsuccessfully, for the state to increase the caregiver-patient ratio from 1 to 1 to 1 to 10, which they said would increase legal and safe access.
Provincetown medical marijuana patient and advocate Tim McCarthy sees a provision in the bill that could help. The measure introduced by state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, and state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, calls for the creation of a "craft marijuana cultivator cooperative system." That would help ensure big pot isn't the only game in town while providing a fully legal pathway for existing growers, McCarthy said. But the cooperative system will exist in the recreational, not the medical realm, meaning its products would be taxed.
"I do not want the medical aspect of this medicine to be lost," he said.
Regardless of any future changes to state laws or regulations, relief for people seeking easier access to medical marijuana could be coming soon: Dispensaries are under construction in Mashpee and South Dennis, both of which are on target to open within six months, dispensary officials said. Plans are underway to construct facilities in West Tisbury, Nantucket and two dispensaries are planned for Provincetown. And In Good Health is in early talks with Sandwich selectmen about opening up on Route 130 near Exit 2.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical pot access on Cape remains limited - News - capecodtimes.com - Hyannis, MA
Author: Chris Lindahl
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Abel Jesus
Website: capecodtimes.com: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Hyannis, MA
With the opening of Theory Wellness in Bridgewater last week, the closest dispensary to Cape Cod is over 30 miles from the Bourne Bridge and an hour drive from Hyannis. Another Southeastern Massachusetts medical pot shop, In Good Health in Brockton, offers a state-approved legal delivery service across the region and is one of several companies with plans to open up a location on the peninsula. That dispensary regularly sees 700 Cape patients, according to David Noble, the company's president.
"We started the delivery service because we've seen over the course of 18 months (of being open) there was a tremendous number of disabled patients, patients who weren't able to get transportation or who weren't able to get to our facility or any of the 11 others," Noble said. "These patients shouldn't have to drive."
But patients say even those options can be too expensive, inconvenient or are completely inaccessible. It remains illegal under federal law, for example, to transport marijuana to the Islands via air or through federal waters. The relatively limited access to medical marijuana on the Cape and Islands illustrates that although statewide focus has turned to recreational marijuana, more work remains to be done to bring the drug to people who use it for medical purposes, advocates say.
"Patients are not being served on the Cape," said Michael Latulippe, development director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance. "The Cape is one of these areas, including the Islands, that has very little access at this time."
Many turn to delivery services listed on websites such as AllBud.com. About 10 companies that deliver serve the Cape and two serve Martha's Vineyard.
Among those patients is Grant Smith, 28, a Pocasset resident who is homebound due to a nerve condition that causes him chronic pain in his face and eye and renders him unable to see out of one eye.
"I can't get out of the house – driving to the dispensary to get my medical marijuana is not an option for me," he said.
After he balked at In Good Health's $50 delivery charge to the Cape, Smith turned to one of the services advertised on AllBud.
Some, such as Grassachusetts, describe themselves as nonprofit collectives of caregivers – people licensed by the state to purchase marijuana from dispensaries or grow it for a single licensed medical marijuana patient. Some caregivers, including those who are medical professionals, can serve multiple patients. But state officials say the services operate outside of the regulatory system.
"Third party medical marijuana delivery services (such as Cannabis Crew and Grassachusetts) are neither authorized nor regulated by the Department of Public Health," agency spokeswoman Ann Scales wrote in a statement.
Two licensed dispensaries, In Good Health and Patriot Care, are the only organizations in Massachusetts that are authorized to deliver marijuana to patients, she said.
Grassachusetts' website states the group operates in full accordance with caregiver regulations and under the guidance of its attorneys. A representative from the group declined to comment for this story and instead issued a statement.
"Our mission is to provide medicine to sick people and military veterans who are licensed patients," the statement says.
Nichole Snow, president of the Patient Advocacy Alliance, said she's hesitant to speak negatively about altruistic people in the cannabis community who operate in this legal uncertainty but said she remains concerned that patient safety could be compromised by lack of state oversight of the delivery services. By comparison, dispensaries are subjected to a high level of cleanliness and purity standards.
"The reason why there's licensing (of dispensaries) is so there's a vetting process, we know where the medicine comes from, so we know the patient is safe," she said. "We need to create a pathway for legitimacy for people who intend to help patients."
Though the recreational marijuana overhaul bill given the green light by the Legislature on Wednesday includes some changes to the medical regime, Snow and Latulippe said more can be done. They have lobbied, so far unsuccessfully, for the state to increase the caregiver-patient ratio from 1 to 1 to 1 to 10, which they said would increase legal and safe access.
Provincetown medical marijuana patient and advocate Tim McCarthy sees a provision in the bill that could help. The measure introduced by state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, and state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, calls for the creation of a "craft marijuana cultivator cooperative system." That would help ensure big pot isn't the only game in town while providing a fully legal pathway for existing growers, McCarthy said. But the cooperative system will exist in the recreational, not the medical realm, meaning its products would be taxed.
"I do not want the medical aspect of this medicine to be lost," he said.
Regardless of any future changes to state laws or regulations, relief for people seeking easier access to medical marijuana could be coming soon: Dispensaries are under construction in Mashpee and South Dennis, both of which are on target to open within six months, dispensary officials said. Plans are underway to construct facilities in West Tisbury, Nantucket and two dispensaries are planned for Provincetown. And In Good Health is in early talks with Sandwich selectmen about opening up on Route 130 near Exit 2.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical pot access on Cape remains limited - News - capecodtimes.com - Hyannis, MA
Author: Chris Lindahl
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: Abel Jesus
Website: capecodtimes.com: Local & World News, Sports & Entertainment in Hyannis, MA
