cannabisnews.com: Ban on Traveling Medical Marijuana Clinics
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Ban on Traveling Medical Marijuana Clinics
Posted by CN Staff on June 30, 2010 at 07:19:21 PT
By Jennifer McKee, Missoulian State Bureau
Source: Missoulian
Helena -- Montana's traveling cannabis caravans, responsible for signing up thousands of people for medical marijuana cards in the last year, will be a thing of a the past if a group of lawmakers here gets its way.A bipartisan panel spent most of Tuesday morning brainstorming changes to Montana's existing medical marijuana laws, taking particular aim at traveling clinics, which according to some, have exploited problems in Montana's law and made medical marijuana much more common.
Among its ideas: physicians who recommend marijuana for their patients must have an established practice in Montana, and they must have a face-to-face evaluation of a patient before issuing the person a medical marijuana recommendation."No more telemedicine, no more traveling," said Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, chairwoman of the committee.They also recommended that doctors follow professional standards of care when dealing with a potential medical marijuana patient and they must look at a patient's medical records before making a recommendation for medical marijuana.The panel also recommended changing the kinds of health conditions that would qualify someone for a medical marijuana card. Someone seeking a card for the broad topic of "chronic pain" would have to have two doctors' recommendations, including one by specialist, according to the panel.About 13,000 of the 17,000 Montanans who have medical marijuana cards use the drug for "chronic pain," said Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby, a nonvoting member of the committee.The legislators also took up the cards themselves, saying people should have to have the card on them and have some form of photo identification when using medical marijuana.The group, an offshoot of the Families, Children, Public Health and Human Services interim committee, which has been studying the issue, anticipates having the bill written by August. Its ideas are still a long way from becoming law. First, any bill would have to be endorsed by the whole committee and then presented to the entire Legislature for its approval in January.The panel's ideas will not be the only medical marijuana bills for lawmakers to consider, Sands said. Lawmakers will likely have a range of ideas, she said, from repealing Montana's medical marijuana law entirely to legalizing marijuana for all purposes.The committee is also considering banning the smoking of marijuana in public.It is scheduled to meet again next month, when the committee will take up the growing and distribution of medical marijuana.Sands and others on the panel said the traveling clinics are one of the main drivers behind public animus toward medical marijuana.But Jim Gingery, executive director of the Montana Medical Growers Association, a trade group of medical marijuana growers, told lawmakers that many doctors in Montana are forbidden from recommending cannabis to their patients, even if they think it could help them. Doctors who work for any government-supported hospital and doctors affiliated with many of state's hospitals cannot prescribe cannabis either because their hospital forbids it or because their hospital could lose federal funding for promoting a substance that is considered an illicit drug at the federal level."That's the whole thing with the traveling clinics," he said. "That's where it got started."Chris Arneson, public relations officer for Montana Caregivers Network, the Missoula organization that has hosted most of Montana's traveling clinics and teleconferences, said in an interview with the Missoulian State Bureau that the teleconferences are misunderstood. It's true that the network does employ a physician who will meet with patients over a digital video link, but all those patients must either fax or e-mail their medical records to the doctor, Arneson said, and most of those patients were referred to the network because their treating physician is not in a position to prescribe medical marijuana.Such teleconferencing is merely a convenience for people who cannot drive to their Missoula offices."They're in too much pain," he said.Source: Missoulian (MT) Author: Jennifer McKee, Missoulian State BureauPublished: Wednesday, June 30, 2010Copyright: 2010 Missoulian Contact: oped missoulian.comWebsite: http://www.missoulian.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/3gQFPRhHCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
Comment #21 posted by FoM on July 03, 2010 at 08:28:22 PT
Hope
Glad you like it too. They are so opposite of one another.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #20 posted by Hope on July 03, 2010 at 08:22:03 PT
FoM
Do I love it? Yes! It's the truth.Thank you.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #19 posted by FoM on July 02, 2010 at 18:30:58 PT
Hope
The way I look at it is politics has it's own agenda. Faith or religion has an agenda too but they should be totally different. They shouldn't mix. Like Bob Dylan said: You Gotta Serve Somebody.***You may be an ambassador to England or France,You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,You may be a socialite with a long string of pearlsBut you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeedYou're gonna have to serve somebody,Well, it may be the devil or it may be the LordBut you're gonna have to serve somebody.**Booker T and the M.G.s - "Gotta Serve Somebody" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roGcPxEvYAw
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #18 posted by Hope on July 02, 2010 at 17:47:13 PT
Another reason that FoM
recognized the major unlove in the religious right political movement right away, and I didn't, is that there was an alarming amount of gay bashing and hatred going on... just lots of stupid, judgmental, angry, dangerous, hating.She had "skin" in that issue and knew it. But even without having someone I loved so closely to be bashed with it all... I saw it pretty soon and decided the kind of righteousness the pompous, self righteous, religious right was getting all stirred up about wasn't right. I bailed on 'em completely.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #17 posted by JHarshaw on July 02, 2010 at 17:15:43 PT
Thanks Hope
Always good to see you too.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #16 posted by FoM on July 02, 2010 at 10:45:49 PT
Hope
I believe in the separation of Church and State. I wasn't at all political back then and was offended that they wanted the church to get involved in politics. I was upset about that more then anything.Render to Ceasar etc. Some think that is about taxes but I didn't.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #15 posted by FoM on July 02, 2010 at 10:40:22 PT
Hope
No problem. It's fixed. It's only a hiccup on the road of life! LOL!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #14 posted by Hope on July 02, 2010 at 09:53:33 PT
JHarshaw
It is good to see you.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #13 posted by Hope on July 02, 2010 at 09:51:54 PT
Storm Crow Comment 1
Yes, it is very interesting and very worrisome. And long! I haven't finished it yet... but I'm reading it. Grits for Breakfast has a post up today that is about something kind of similar happening in Houston.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #12 posted by Hope on July 02, 2010 at 00:58:42 PT
Sorry....
If I knew how that was happening... I would stop it.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by Hope on July 02, 2010 at 00:48:49 PT
My church experience was mostly good.
At one time I was actually a card carrying member of The Moral Majority and that Phylis Shafley group. I know. I know.I know now. But I didn't then. At first I thought it was kind of like the NRA.... keeping us up on how we might like to vote for someone. Then I started noticing something else that didn't seem to jive with what I believe about the Way of Christ.So what I'm trying to say is that a lot of them are being led astray and a lot of them just don't know what they're doing. As in "Forgive them. They know not what they do." They are too danged stupid to know what they're doing... like I was... sorta. Just like any other situations you have to careful of what kind of church people you fall in with. Duh!Even then... in my Moral Majority days, I knew it was so very wrong for the government to kill and imprison citizens, and non citizens for that matter... over drugs. To bust into their homes. To shoot them in their beds. In front of their children? Over consumables. Over contraband consumables. It's insane. It's absolutely insane. I knew that then, too. I just didn't realize fully realize how bad the situation was and when I did, one straw after another upon the proverbial camel's back, I didn't think I could do anything about it... and then... I finally just had to say something. I've been saying something for a long time now.Peace is my friend. Some people in religion are dangerous and they have it all way, way wrong. They do not know the Prince of Peace.And speaking of "Princes"...I think they, these punishing so called Christians, persecute the Prince of Pot because they see through the eyes of the Prince of Darkness.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by FoM on July 01, 2010 at 15:54:30 PT
Zandor
When the fundamentalist christians got their hooks in the RP I knew what it would lead to. That's why I quit going to Church and can't ever be a Republican. Only miserable people seem to go to church. If you find peace and happiness on your own you don't need to go to church. They don't like that.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by Zandor on July 01, 2010 at 15:10:39 PT
Time for real change!!
It's time to rid politics of the Christian Right Influence!!It's the "Good Christians" (who are no Christian) on the Right that have cost this nation the most money and reduced our civil rights to nil. They have turned most of the modern world agents us, and brought new meaning to HATE SPEECH!! Have you read any of the prop 8 trial reports of what the "Good Christians" are saying?You know it's the "Good Christians" on the right who are also imprisoning medical marijuana users Nation wide at record numbers. That's not compassion or even Christian in my book. It's the "Good Christians" who are sitting on the City & County boards denying people access to Medical Marijuana because of their personal religious belief!Remember that this November!!DUMP THE CHRISTIANS AND SAVE AMERICA!!!
VOTE CHRISTIAN AND DOOM AMERICA!!!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 01, 2010 at 14:13:33 PT
JHarshaw
Right now people are out doing things so it is slow. When the summer heat hits people are inside more and there is more talking. We have made so much progress that it's easy to kick back and not be as upset about drug policy in general. Step by step things are changing.You're welcome and I fixed it.
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Comment #6 posted by JHarshaw on July 01, 2010 at 14:08:20 PT
Lurking
Thanks FoM. I'm actually here almost every day but there is such an insightful bunch of posters here that I seldom feel the need to add anything more.But it felt real good to be remembered...Thanks again.re: Post #3 subject should read "Excuses" of course.Just a thought, Peace and Pot.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by FoM on July 01, 2010 at 05:47:09 PT
Happy 4th of July Weekend
The weather is absolutely beautiful. It's cool and sunny. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. I will keep looking for news but it is really slow this time of year.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by FoM on July 01, 2010 at 05:37:40 PT
JHarshaw
It's nice to see you. I agree. The whole plant has been around forever and it will not go away.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by JHarshaw on July 01, 2010 at 05:11:47 PT
Excuses
They can give any reason they can dream up but the truth of the matter is they all wish the whole Medical Marijuana issue would just go away.News Flash: NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Get used to it.Just a thought,
Peace and Pot
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 01, 2010 at 05:06:26 PT
News Article From U.S. News & World Report
Medical Claims for Marijuana—Just Blowing Smoke?June 30, 2010URL: http://drugsense.org/url/RGGAXmwE
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by Storm Crow on June 30, 2010 at 13:36:33 PT
News from Michigan
http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-4506-the-please-department.htmlWednesday, June 30,2010THE PLEASE DEPARTMENTSome reasons it might be harder to get access to public information from your local police department.by Neal McNamaraThree Mondays ago, a paraplegic medical marijuana user from Meridian Township — or so he described himself — called me and said that he had been robbed at gun point in his home in the middle of the night by three armed “black guys.”The man did not want to give me his name, but he described the home invasion this way: He was sleeping, naked, on his couch very, very early on a Sunday morning when the men barged in waving guns. They demanded his money and his medical marijuana, which they eventually found and allegedly stole. They also took a Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster (apparently, the burglars knew a $12,000 guitar when they saw one) and some other musical equipment. Further, he told me that when Meridian Township Police showed up, they confiscated his remaining medical marijuana. Between the burglars and the police, the man told me, his planned medical marijuana growing co-op was devastated.True, untrue, or grossly exaggerated, the man had a story. The timeliness of the medical marijuana issue, the fact that Meridian Township police allegedly confiscated the medical marijuana (under state law, you can possess 2.5 ounces and 12 plants), and the bizarre nature of the home invasion made the man’s story of interest.When I got off the phone, I immediately called up Meridian Township police and asked to speak to the public i n f o r mation officer, Lt. Greg Frenger. But what happened next turned the story from a guy who got robbed of his medical marijuana to yet another example of how authorities constantly thwart the public’s right to know — a problem not just with the Meridian Township police but throughout Ingham County (with some exceptions) that I’ve discovered in covering the Greater Lansing scene for the last two and a half years.When I asked Frenger if he could confirm and give details about the incident, he told me, “No comment.” (snipped) This is a VERY long article, but very interesting to read.
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