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The New Jersey Department of Health apologized Wednesday to medical marijuana patients for sending them an email that disclosed the email addresses – and in some cases, the names – of all the program participants.
The department said in a statement that it is working to avoid repeating the mistake.
The email, sent Tuesday, was the latest complication for the new program. The Health Department sent the email to advise patients that their required appointments preceding marijuana purchases will be made by Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, not the state.
Some patients were angry about the communique that compromised their personal information.
"I'm a nurse and I'm stunned by this," said Lisa Segal of Wenonah, a registered medicinal cannabis patient who has multiple sclerosis.
She also was not happy with the tone of the email, which told participants to be patient in waiting for pot to be made available to them.
Of more than 300 registered patients in New Jersey, fewer than 100 had received their first supply of the drug by Tuesday.
Greenleaf, the state's first licensed dispensary, opened to patients on Dec. 6, more than a month after it received the go-ahead from the Health Department. But patients cannot just walk into the dispensary and buy their drugs. Instead, under the state's restrictive medical marijuana law, they must be summoned one-by-one for meetings before they can make their first purchase.
By state law, only patients with certain conditions, such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and terminal cancer can get the drug – and then only with a doctor's recommendation. Some patients oppose the mandated procedures and regulations, including a limit on the potency of the legal marijuana.
Segal said one good thing may have come out of the shared patient list.
"Part of me is tempted to email everybody and say, 'Maybe we should form a patients union now that we know who everybody is to protect their rights,'" she said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Geoff Mulvihill
Contact: Contacts at San Francisco Chronicle - SFGate
Website: NJ patients complain about medical marijuana email - SFGate
The department said in a statement that it is working to avoid repeating the mistake.
The email, sent Tuesday, was the latest complication for the new program. The Health Department sent the email to advise patients that their required appointments preceding marijuana purchases will be made by Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, not the state.
Some patients were angry about the communique that compromised their personal information.
"I'm a nurse and I'm stunned by this," said Lisa Segal of Wenonah, a registered medicinal cannabis patient who has multiple sclerosis.
She also was not happy with the tone of the email, which told participants to be patient in waiting for pot to be made available to them.
Of more than 300 registered patients in New Jersey, fewer than 100 had received their first supply of the drug by Tuesday.
Greenleaf, the state's first licensed dispensary, opened to patients on Dec. 6, more than a month after it received the go-ahead from the Health Department. But patients cannot just walk into the dispensary and buy their drugs. Instead, under the state's restrictive medical marijuana law, they must be summoned one-by-one for meetings before they can make their first purchase.
By state law, only patients with certain conditions, such as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and terminal cancer can get the drug – and then only with a doctor's recommendation. Some patients oppose the mandated procedures and regulations, including a limit on the potency of the legal marijuana.
Segal said one good thing may have come out of the shared patient list.
"Part of me is tempted to email everybody and say, 'Maybe we should form a patients union now that we know who everybody is to protect their rights,'" she said.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: sfgate.com
Author: Geoff Mulvihill
Contact: Contacts at San Francisco Chronicle - SFGate
Website: NJ patients complain about medical marijuana email - SFGate
