cannabisnews.com: MMJ Group Objects To State's Proposed Regulations
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MMJ Group Objects To State's Proposed Regulations
Posted by CN Staff on January 04, 2011 at 16:26:24 PT
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services 
Source: East Valley Tribune 
Arizona -- A group representing would-be medical marijuana dealers is objecting to what it says are burdensome - and illegal - rules being proposed by the state health department.Allan Sobol, spokesman for the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, said the law approved in November by voters requires state Health Director Will Humble to enact rules for how the system of distributing marijuana by non-profit organizations will work.
But Sobol said Humble has gone beyond what voters approved in imposing restrictions on when a doctor can write the necessary recommendation for a patient to buy up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks.Humble said Proposition 203 does require there be a "bona fide physician-patient relationship." He said the rules are designed to do just that."What we're trying to do is create some checks in the system to provide some safety," he said."The other objective is to prevent this from becoming a recreational marijuana act."He said that is what has happened in places like California and Colorado where would-be marijuana users can go into a walk-in clinic, get an examination and walk out with the required recommendation.The rules Humble and his staff crafted have defined that requirement for a physician-patient relationship to mean that there has been contact for at least a year, with at least four visits dealing with the condition for which the patient is seeking marijuana."That's unheard of anywhere in the medical industry," Sobol said. "You can walk into an emergency room tomorrow morning and complain about backache or something and they would prescribe you OxyContin on the spot."Humble pointed out there is an alternate option for patients: They can get a recommendation from a doctor without any prior visits if that physician conducts a comprehensive medical history and physical exam and agrees to take on the primary responsibility of managing the person's ailment.But Sobol said that, too, is more stringent than required for any other medication.Humble said some restrictions on who can write a recommendation for marijuana are necessary."What we want to do is make sure that physicians take that seriously, and before they write that recommendation they do a complete physical and a full assessment so that we don't end up with these doctors that are seeing 40-50 patients a day and just giving out recommendations every 10 minutes," he said.Sobol also said the law specifically requires those rules be enacted in a way "without imposing an undue burden" on the dispensaries. What Humble has proposed, he said, does create significant financial problems.One of the most notable, he said, is the requirement that would-be dispensaries have not only a specific location but a certificate of occupancy before being able to even apply to get one of the 125 licenses available."This would require an applicant to not only secure a location for his/her dispensary and cultivation center, but build-it-out as well at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, all at risk, since all is done without any assurances that they will obtain a license," Sobol said in his formal comments on the regulations. "This rule alone will serve to eliminate all but the wealthiest of applicants."Sobol also said there is no authority for the health department to require dispensaries to obtain a bond, something he said would be outrageously expensive given that insurance companies are being asked to provide coverage for something that remains illegal under federal law.Humble stressed that the draft rules are only preliminary. And he said the purpose for making them public was to get feedback like this.More to the point, Humble said he wants to be sure that anything he is doing is within the scope of what Proposition 203 allows - and avoid the kind of lawsuit that Sobol said will be filed if these draft rules become final."The last thing I want to do is to fight some kind of battle in court over whether or not we exceeded our authority," he said. Humble said his agency will review all of the comments on the preliminary rules, which are due by the end of this week and then decide what changes, if any, to make.Other objections by Sobol include:• Requiring dispensaries to provide detailed information on cultivation, including the type of soil used and the watering schedule;• A mandate for dispensaries to have 24/7 video monitoring by the health department;• The need to spell out the weight of cookies and other products into which marijuana was infused;• Limits on who can serve as a medical director of a dispensary.Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ)Author: Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services Published: January 4, 2011Copyright: 2011 East Valley TribuneContact: forum aztrib.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/GRUdrEmwWebsite: http://www.eastvalleytribune.comCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by dongenero on January 06, 2011 at 09:34:21 PT
Sorry to be so blunt but,.....
"The rules Humble and his staff crafted have defined that requirement for a physician-patient relationship to mean that there has been contact for at least a year,....."You can be diagnosed with cancer by an oncologist and be dead in much less than a year. These health department people seem to have no idea what they are doing. They just want the genie back in the bottle.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on January 05, 2011 at 19:25:17 PT
BGreen
We have a very old car so we have a lighter and ashtray. My niece and I were in her car and it is only a few years old and we got to talking about how they have eliminated ashtrays and lighters. She said oh they put an ashtray in this car but it's lined with felt and we both laughed. That's how they slowly make something illegal. Same as abortion and medical marijuana and gay rights. Whatever they don't like they make difficult. 
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Comment #7 posted by BGreen on January 05, 2011 at 18:39:14 PT
Gee, Whiz
These morons are doing everything they can to make the current "sneak around under the radar doing something illegal" system the preferable choice.Don't say I didn't warn you because I did. I knew they were going to make it impractical and nearly impossible to participate in a legal activity by regulation. It's the same tactic being used against the legal practice of abortion. If you make it difficult enough, you've effectively outlawed a legal procedure or activity.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on January 05, 2011 at 15:26:14 PT
Guess this would cover the "New doctor" part.
"Humble pointed out there is an alternate option for patients: They can get a recommendation from a doctor without any prior visits if that physician conducts a comprehensive medical history and physical exam and agrees to take on the primary responsibility of managing the person's ailment."
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on January 05, 2011 at 15:09:02 PT
Arizona and Nevada?
Will Humble, eh? I wonder if Will is short for William.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on January 05, 2011 at 14:57:56 PT
Arizona and Nevada?
Really old, fragile, feeble, frightened people?
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 05, 2011 at 14:57:07 PT
dongenero
Any one can shout freedom and not even realize how broad that word is or even what it really means.
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on January 05, 2011 at 14:55:56 PT
That's crazy.
"The rules Humble and his staff crafted have defined that requirement for a physician-patient relationship to mean that there has been contact for at least a year, with at least four visits dealing with the condition for which the patient is seeking marijuana."Oncologists should be able to recommend cannabis as a possible "calmative", "tranquilizer", or "analgesic", for even a brand new patient, if they so desire. Something amazingly effective but with zero chance of overdose.It's an effective, non-poisonous herb... the effects of which are gone in usually thirty minutes to two hours. If it's unpleasant to you. Sit down and wait calmly. You aren't dying and it will be over in a few minutes. Don't drive or operate heavy equipment until you can. And make a note to self. Self, no more cannabis for this guy.If it's not your cup o'tea... don't drink it!Don't do such harm to others, though, that actually believe themselves to benefit from the effects of the herb and indeed, it's proven, by practical history and science, to be a beneficial plant in many, many ways. Stop hurting others because of your unreasonable fear and hatred and sense that you have some entitlement to tell every one else what to do in so many ways.Yes. It hurts your fellow citizen to shackle him and force him to give you the money out of his or her pockets. 
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Comment #1 posted by dongenero on January 05, 2011 at 10:38:15 PT
AZ 
For all their tea party activism and big talk about freedom, and keeping government small, AZ appears to be quite the big government, nanny state.Not that anyone is likely surprised at where their rhetoric stops and truth of their ideology begins.
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