Robert Celt
New Member
As Governor Raimondo's administration goes to bat to defend the need for significant revisions to the state's medical marijuana program, officials for the first time are being forced to acknowledge numerous problems with the current law.
During a lengthy House Finance hearing on the budget article that proposes to impose fees and a tracking system on medical marijuana plants grown by patients and other individual registered growers, Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said her agency has been put in an "uncomfortable" position. After the department issues a medical marijuana card no one knows if the marijuana had any other substances added to it, what kind of conditions it was grown in, where it was grown and if the grower is abiding by state-imposed limits on the number of plants, she said.
Those are only some of the problems. Among the others officials cited: The Health Department receives roughly 125 medical marijuana patient applications a week and maintains a consistent backlog of 400 to 500 applications because it doesn't have the staffing to meet the demands of the state's more than 13,280 patients. There are no records of where plants are being grown. There's also no mandated system for testing and labeling marijuana products to ensure safety.
Governor Raimondo has said she's seeking to fix loopholes in the state's medical marijuana law – lax in regulations for caregivers, or people who register to grow medical marijuana either for themselves or to sell to others. Her budget plan includes a proposal to make caregivers pay significant registration fees – between $150 and $350 per plant – for tracking devices or tags.
The plan would also mandate that patients receive a medical marijuana recommendation from a medical professional practicing in Rhode Island. Alexander-Scott told lawmakers that provision is included because, while there are a small number of out-of-state providers, those providers account for a large percentage of the medical marijuana recommendations Rhode Islanders receive. More than one-third of the state's patients have a recommendation from an out-of-state doctor.
"Within the small percentage of providers who are from out of state, some may contribute to a large portion of the patients who fill our medical marijuana program and may issue it in ways that are different than what we would like," she said.
One out-of-state business, however, argued that change will place a burden on patients who rely on their Massachusetts doctors for medical marijuana recommendations. Stephanie Gluchacki, chief financial officer of Canna Care Docs, which specializes in administrating medical marijuana evaluation, said Rhode Island patients have developed relationships with their doctors. The business, a division of MedEVal Corp., has 14 locations, including one in Fall River and one in Seekonk.
Meanwhile, dozens of patients appeared before the House Finance Committee Tuesday calling the plan a tax on the sick.
Ellen Lenox Smith, of Scituate, was among them. Smith said she has used medical marijuana since 2007 to control the pain she experiences from a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. She is one of the state's more than 3,000 registered "caregivers" who grows her own marijuana and also sells the drug to other patients.
"This has been my lifeline. I don't get high. I don't get stoned. I take a teaspoon of oil before I go to bed to control the pain," Smith said. "Some people take advantage of the system, but it's not fair to punish the rest of us."
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin pointed to other problems with Raimondo's proposal. In a letter to the committee he raised questions about Raimondo's plan to allow a new category of marijuana "cultivators" who would grow only for compassion centers. He argued that compassion centers already have the authority to grow as much marijuana as they need for their patients.
"There should be no need for a compassion center to purchase marijuana from outside sources," Kilmartin wrote. "If cultivators are not providing marijuana to patients or caregivers and the compassion centers are not in need of the product they are cultivating, where will this marijuana go? If past is prologue, this marijuana would be diverted illegally into our communities."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Rhode Island Lawmakers Told Medical Marijuana Program Lacks Oversight
Author: Jennifer Bogdan
Photo Credit: Dan Gleiter
Website: Providence Journal
During a lengthy House Finance hearing on the budget article that proposes to impose fees and a tracking system on medical marijuana plants grown by patients and other individual registered growers, Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said her agency has been put in an "uncomfortable" position. After the department issues a medical marijuana card no one knows if the marijuana had any other substances added to it, what kind of conditions it was grown in, where it was grown and if the grower is abiding by state-imposed limits on the number of plants, she said.
Those are only some of the problems. Among the others officials cited: The Health Department receives roughly 125 medical marijuana patient applications a week and maintains a consistent backlog of 400 to 500 applications because it doesn't have the staffing to meet the demands of the state's more than 13,280 patients. There are no records of where plants are being grown. There's also no mandated system for testing and labeling marijuana products to ensure safety.
Governor Raimondo has said she's seeking to fix loopholes in the state's medical marijuana law – lax in regulations for caregivers, or people who register to grow medical marijuana either for themselves or to sell to others. Her budget plan includes a proposal to make caregivers pay significant registration fees – between $150 and $350 per plant – for tracking devices or tags.
The plan would also mandate that patients receive a medical marijuana recommendation from a medical professional practicing in Rhode Island. Alexander-Scott told lawmakers that provision is included because, while there are a small number of out-of-state providers, those providers account for a large percentage of the medical marijuana recommendations Rhode Islanders receive. More than one-third of the state's patients have a recommendation from an out-of-state doctor.
"Within the small percentage of providers who are from out of state, some may contribute to a large portion of the patients who fill our medical marijuana program and may issue it in ways that are different than what we would like," she said.
One out-of-state business, however, argued that change will place a burden on patients who rely on their Massachusetts doctors for medical marijuana recommendations. Stephanie Gluchacki, chief financial officer of Canna Care Docs, which specializes in administrating medical marijuana evaluation, said Rhode Island patients have developed relationships with their doctors. The business, a division of MedEVal Corp., has 14 locations, including one in Fall River and one in Seekonk.
Meanwhile, dozens of patients appeared before the House Finance Committee Tuesday calling the plan a tax on the sick.
Ellen Lenox Smith, of Scituate, was among them. Smith said she has used medical marijuana since 2007 to control the pain she experiences from a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. She is one of the state's more than 3,000 registered "caregivers" who grows her own marijuana and also sells the drug to other patients.
"This has been my lifeline. I don't get high. I don't get stoned. I take a teaspoon of oil before I go to bed to control the pain," Smith said. "Some people take advantage of the system, but it's not fair to punish the rest of us."
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin pointed to other problems with Raimondo's proposal. In a letter to the committee he raised questions about Raimondo's plan to allow a new category of marijuana "cultivators" who would grow only for compassion centers. He argued that compassion centers already have the authority to grow as much marijuana as they need for their patients.
"There should be no need for a compassion center to purchase marijuana from outside sources," Kilmartin wrote. "If cultivators are not providing marijuana to patients or caregivers and the compassion centers are not in need of the product they are cultivating, where will this marijuana go? If past is prologue, this marijuana would be diverted illegally into our communities."
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Rhode Island Lawmakers Told Medical Marijuana Program Lacks Oversight
Author: Jennifer Bogdan
Photo Credit: Dan Gleiter
Website: Providence Journal
