cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Sales are Months Away



cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Sales are Months Away
function share_this(num) {
 tit=encodeURIComponent('Cannabis Sales are Months Away');
 url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/27/thread27416.shtml');
 site = new Array(5);
 site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500');
 return false;
}






Cannabis Sales are Months Away
Posted by CN Staff on April 11, 2013 at 05:14:17 PT
By Kay Lazar,  Globe Staff 
Source: Boston Globe
Massachusetts -- Regulations for the medical use of marijuana in Massachusetts are scheduled to be adopted next month, but even then, many key details will remain unresolved, making it likely that dispensaries will not open for many months, a top state health official said Wednesday.Dr. Lauren Smith, the interim public health commissioner, said in an interview after a meeting of the state Public Health Council that her agency has “a lot of operational challenges” to confront before dispensaries could open, including the development of an interactive, online database that will allow police to check whether patients have been authorized by their physicians to use marijuana.
Physicians would also be required to enter information about the amount of marijuana recommended for each patient.“We are having to develop from scratch regulatory oversight at the same time an industry is developing from scratch,” Smith said.“We need a thorough, thoughtful review process,” she said. “To do it right, it’s going to take time.”For more than two hours Wednesday, Public Health Department staff members detailed the agency’s 45 pages of draft regulations to the Public Health Council, an appointed body of academics and health advocates that is slated to vote on the rules May 8. That would clear the way for the rules to go into effect by the end of May.Iyah Romm, special advisor to the health commissioner, told the council that the answers to many of their questions had not been worked out and that the agency will address the concerns through a “subregulation” process after the panel’s May vote.Among concerns is the plan to require medical marijuana dispensaries to test their products for contamination, including heavy metals and pesticides, even though specialists say it is easier to mandate testing than to do it reliably.Another issue is whether dispensaries will be required to set aside money to compensate any patients harmed by a product. Federal regulations against medical marijuana could make it difficult for companies to obtain liability insurance.Voters approved a ballot referendum in November legalizing marijuana for medical use in the state, and that measure required the Department of Public Health to issue regulations to implement the law.Smith said the Public Health Department has no staff to oversee the medical marijuana program and would depend on money raised from dispensary licensing fees, which have not yet been set, to hire personnel.Lack of staff was a concern raised by council member Helen Caulton-Harris, Springfield’s health and human services director. The draft regulations say the Public Health Department will inspect the facilities, including those that produce and sell edible marijuana products, such as candies and cookies.Typically, local boards of health inspect food establishments in their communities. Harris said that in her experience, when a local business, such as a massage parlor or a barber shop, falls under state jurisdiction for routine inspections, things fall through the cracks.“A lot of times, because of staffing shortages, those inspections don’t happen in a timely manner,” Harris said.The state’s draft rules allow communities to pass local regulations for the dispensaries and assess local fees, as long as they do not conflict with state laws.Among the provisions not included in the draft rules is reciprocity with other states, so patients certified for medical marijuana use in Massachusetts may not be protected from prosecution elsewhere.A few states, such as Michigan and Arizona, allow out-of-state patients with proper registration cards to possess marijuana in their states, but most do not, and that has caused some problems, said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit that advocates for research and medical use of marijuana.“It’s a question we get a lot from patients: ‘I am traveling and can I take my medicine?’ ” Sherer said. “Unfortunately, the answer often is, at your own risk.”Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author: Kay Lazar, Globe Staff Published: April 11, 2013Copyright: 2013 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/qU7gySf5CannabisNews  Medical Marijuana  Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help 
     
     
     
     




Comment #7 posted by afterburner on April 11, 2013 at 16:26:08 PT
museman 
I understand what you are saying and your respect for true research that increases knowledge. The trouble with trying to talk about research is that corporate interests have hijacked the scientific process for their own profits. Pure research is no longer much of a fundable activity, due to corporate influence on the funding of colleges and universities. The FDA relies on pharmaceutical companies and agribusinesses to do their own research and then accepts their results even when important facts and conclusions have been hidden or fudged.I am also against the tendency of lawmakers and some cannabis activists to hand the supply of cannabis over to the same corrupt corporations that are playing God with our food supply and monopolizing medicine with their patented synthetics.I'm not advocating more research to use as an excuse to stall the march toward cannabis freedom. I am interested in the research of the human internal microbiota which seems to point to a new medical paradigm. Instead of healthcare based on killing: antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery; the field of microbiotics seems to be based on the concepts of balance and peace. As many here embrace herbal cannabis and other medical herbs, grown naturally and given to us by the Creator, so too, balancing the microbiota instead of trying to "kill 'em all" makes medicine rediscover traditional Shamanic practices from the plant and animal kingdom and how they influence the microbiota. With government health agencies packed with representatives of GMOs (Monsanto) and Big Pharma, the odds of pure research being allowed and funded are slim indeed. I maintain hope for the future of true science while at the same time embracing intuitive healing practices of aboriginal shamans, medicine people, bush doctors, herbalists, and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda (India). Love is more powerful than hate. That's why the media, governments and corporations use fear to divide and conquer, to create hatred and to turn us against each other.A gentle medicine for the future, for our children and grandchildren. Cannabis is leading the way. We're waiting for true science to catch up. However, we are not asking for permission from governments. We are men and women "of the past, living in the present and walking in the future."
peter tosh - mystic man (subtitulado al español)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by museman on April 11, 2013 at 11:55:31 PT
afterburner
Just so I am not misunderstood...There is a fine line between practice and proof.The 'empirical observation' of pure theoretical research though relegated and almost entirely associated with the academic field of science, is actually a human condition, not an institutional one. The problem I was alluding to was not the research itself -any knowledge is a good thing- but the social/economic/academic constrictions and exclusivity that has hi-jacked the human ability to be proficient into a narrow field of Elite controlled fraternities.A Shaman knows through understanding -that came from both knowledge and experience- that everything is in a relationship and balance with everything else. The idea that everything has an effect when applied to any situation does not however require 4 -8 years of college to perceive. In my experience it has been quite the opposite. And I did my academic time, so I speak from experience not conjecture. There are quite a few members of my family who achieved academic success (which under today's standards is not very hard, it just requires focus, commitment, and a lot of cramming useless information into limited brain space.)I have known intuitively for over 40 years how benevolent cannabis was, and have been excited -on one level- as 'research' and 'scientific' lol discovery have confirmed and validated the initial intuition.The very term 'micro-biology' is, when one can step back and view the whole, is separating the world of microbes from the rest of reality! Relegating the use of many man hours, electrical hours computer time, powers consumption -which all results in major damage to the very micro-biology such research is (maybe) intended to serve.It's like cutting down a forest to build a city, to construct the paper mill, a printer, so that paper can be made and printed, and a legislation to that a 'bill' can be passed, signed by 'experts' and 'put into law' so that the trees (that are already cut down) can be protected.
 
And this scenario has been done in plain sight in my neck of the woods.So if one wants to know -really- about 'microbiology' they would do better to ask the experienced, than the 'experts.'That's what I'm sayin'. IMO
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by museman on April 11, 2013 at 11:17:11 PT
Some general thoughts
Not to crap on anyone's good intentions, but why should there be 'research' to prove what has already been known, documented (in older record and cultural history), and proven through the best example; the use by many, many people.Who are the 'experts' here? Someone who works with the tools, perceptions, limitations, and criteria of a system that is a profound failure? And not just with prohibition.Why should resource, attention, funding and other siphoning of energy all be qualified and validated only by these 'special' people whose 'expertise' is totally reliant on 'research' and information that is as biased as the system that requires it?Why should Joe Blow with a PHD have any more to say about the uses, abuses (which are hard to find actually), and effects of cannabis than say, me, or any of the experienced posters here on Cnews?All the so called experts already in place - the FDA, AMA. etc., are doing such a great job, where did they come from? The same pool of academic idiots any so-called 'experts' will be drawn from. And if the pool is so obviously corrupted and contaminated, why do we keep going back?Why do we continue to let a totally non-representative government continue to get away with this fascist activity? All the effort that goes into trying to achieve some kind of compromise through 'law' is only giving power right back to where we are trying to liberate it from!Yes it's a powerful 'catch22' situation, but letting them think that there is any truth to one damn thing they have said about cannabis or cannabis users is just tossing the ball back to them without even taking a shot at the hoop.The compromises people are willing to make for 'concessions' that will ultimately accomplish only one thing; instead of punishment by imprisonment, it will be fees and fines -and then imprisonment. Already Medical Users are being punished by the cops, the county commissioners, the judges,lawyers and politicians -everywhere medical cannabis is 'legal.' I have been punished by the VA, forced to choose between cannabis and pain meds. I was punished by the Eugene police department because my adult son was busted with less than an ounce and I tried to bail him out. They would not allow me to without giving up my card.I recently had an opportunity to overhear the plans of our county commissioners to establish a 'tri-county task force' to deal with the 'rampant marijuana problem.' They did it in a room in the courthouse early one morning (not their chambers) I happened to be there to file legal proceedings against my landlord. The details could fill up this page.I keep hearing about the different people within the system who have supposedly had a change of heart. Well the Powers that Be are well aware of the tactic 'if you can't beat 'em join 'em' and then take over from within. Its not hard when everything is structured to fit within the dynamics of the various false assumptions that are held and used against us by our 'leaders.' If you compromise truth with a falsehood, you have negated the truth. Its simple really, easy to get the horse to the water, not so easy to make 'em drink...obviously.If people want to believe in the false benevolence of the new establishmentarians climbing on the band wagon claiming to be concerned about our liberties, well all good dogs deserve a bone from time to time. Me, I'm not a dog or a slave and I will never settle for the tablescraps of the false masters, false leaders, false 'experts' and their masters the Elite. LEGALIZE FREEDOM
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Hope on April 11, 2013 at 09:39:25 PT
Afterburner
That's quite an article. Very thought provoking. Thank you.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by afterburner on April 11, 2013 at 07:35:37 PT
Sorry ... That Was Page 2. Here's Page 1. 
Why We Need Germs. By: Sharon Begley. In Issue: March/April 2013 http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/02/26/in-the-magazine/health-in-the-magazine/good-bacteria.html
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by afterburner on April 11, 2013 at 07:28:55 PT
Could MMJ & Hemp Regulate the Microbiota? 
For those interested in the many health problems that Medical Cannabis & Hemp address:Why We Need Germs. 
By: Sharon Begley.
In Issue: March/April 2013 
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/02/26/in-the-magazine/health-in-the-magazine/good-bacteria.html/2Recent studies show that the balance between good bacteria and bad bacteria plays a part in many disease syndromes and that over-use of antibiotics interferes with healthy balance of the microbiota. This emerging medical science is running ahead of the stodgy regulations of the HHS, FDA, DEA, AMA, CMA, and Health Canada (to name a few of the current regulatory health agencies). Many commenters here are familiar with the up-regulate and down-regulate properties of cannabis & hemp.Autoimmune diseases is one large area that incorporates many of the diseases that medical cannabis aids. The above article also mentions autoimmune diseases as one of the disease categories involving germs within the internal microbiota. So, again I ask "Could medical cannabis & hemp help regulate the microbiota?" More research is needed. So, U.S. federal government, do not sequester the medical research funding and do re-schedule cannabis and hemp "To Promote the General Welfare" of the nation and the world!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by cootdog_1 on April 11, 2013 at 06:41:03 PT:
Legalize and promote your current job ...
Legalize and promote your current job ... HHS state workers have their hands full and the tax payer would not
like adding to government to 'regulate' pot use. If Pot is not made legal, the HHS and state lose all around. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid is the best policy on this issue. I wonder how many HHS and/or state workers are Pot smokers? Or how many state employees NEVER steal, cheat or abuse power they have given themselves with regulation? Help stop violence over Pot... Make it legal for 21 and older.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment