Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Patients who have been eagerly awaiting the passage of rules and regulations for medical marijuana likely will have to keep waiting.
Island voters decided to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in 2014. After medical marijuana was approved, it took Public Health until July of 2015 to make public the draft rules and regulations. After a series of public hearings, the final draft of the rules and regulations went to the Legislature, which then had 90 days to approve or disapprove.
Sen. Tina Muña Barnes recently introduced a bill to reject the rules, citing concerns such as clarifying definitions in the regulations and including provisions for safety measures. She also has proposed amendments to the medical marijuana law - the Joaquin "KC" Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act - including one to allow patients to grow their own plants, and for primary caregivers to be at least 21 years old.
Instead of outright rejecting the medical marijuana rules and regulations, senators should make the needed changes and then pass the regulations as soon as possible.
Senators need to remember the purpose of this legislation - to provide people with a disease or illness a medical treatment that would help them in their ordeal. The longer it takes to approve the rules and regulations, the longer these people suffer, or have to break the law to get their medicine.
We all want our laws, and any government rules and regulations, to be perfect so that everything is clear and understandable. But fully rejecting, and thus further delaying the medical marijuana regulations for an unclear amount of time, doesn't make a lot of sense.
If senators have identified specific problems in the language of the rules and regulations, then fix them and put them into effect, so cancer patients and others in suffering can legally benefit from medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Our View: Fix Problems, Put Medical Marijuana Rules Into Effect
Author: Staff
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Pacific Daily News
Island voters decided to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in 2014. After medical marijuana was approved, it took Public Health until July of 2015 to make public the draft rules and regulations. After a series of public hearings, the final draft of the rules and regulations went to the Legislature, which then had 90 days to approve or disapprove.
Sen. Tina Muña Barnes recently introduced a bill to reject the rules, citing concerns such as clarifying definitions in the regulations and including provisions for safety measures. She also has proposed amendments to the medical marijuana law - the Joaquin "KC" Concepcion II Compassionate Cannabis Use Act - including one to allow patients to grow their own plants, and for primary caregivers to be at least 21 years old.
Instead of outright rejecting the medical marijuana rules and regulations, senators should make the needed changes and then pass the regulations as soon as possible.
Senators need to remember the purpose of this legislation - to provide people with a disease or illness a medical treatment that would help them in their ordeal. The longer it takes to approve the rules and regulations, the longer these people suffer, or have to break the law to get their medicine.
We all want our laws, and any government rules and regulations, to be perfect so that everything is clear and understandable. But fully rejecting, and thus further delaying the medical marijuana regulations for an unclear amount of time, doesn't make a lot of sense.
If senators have identified specific problems in the language of the rules and regulations, then fix them and put them into effect, so cancer patients and others in suffering can legally benefit from medical marijuana.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Our View: Fix Problems, Put Medical Marijuana Rules Into Effect
Author: Staff
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Pacific Daily News
