Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
PROVIDENCE — So, what’s next with the new law that calls for the establishment of three compassion centers in Rhode Island that will provide medically licensed patients with places to legally buy marijuana?
Officials from the state Health Department will soon review a transcript from a recent community hearing in which dozens of people interested in running the marijuana distribution centers raised many questions about how the program will work.
Among the questions: What kind of security system will be required? What must be done with the excess marijuana? Can vans or other forms of transportation be used to ship the marijuana to patients in other parts of the state?
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have continued to question the wisdom of the program. They have expressed ongoing concerns that the operators could illegally peddle drugs on the side, or they could be targeted by criminal groups seeking to grab their valuable stash of marijuana.
Two state officials, including Charles Alexandre, chief of the Health Department’s Office of Health Professionals Regulation, patiently fielded the questions at the community hearing, but they had few answers. Instead, they repeatedly said that they are required to follow the General Assembly’s statute that permits the opening of the compassion centers.
Rhode Island is just one of three states in the nation that has approved the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes — the others are California and New Mexico. And, no one is quite sure how it’s all going to play out.
“We are definitely trailblazing right now,” said Stephen Hogan, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition. “We don’t really know what’s going to happen. This is all new.”
At the hearing, the Health Department distributed a 22-page document that covered the proposed draft amendments in the “Rules and Regulations Related to the Medical Marijuana Program.” Included in the draft were nine pages involving the operation of compassion centers.
Among the issues addressed are security, criminal background checks on people employed at a compassion center and how much marijuana can be dispensed to a licensed patient — 2.5 ounces over a 15-day period.
The compassion centers are designed to augment the medical marijuana program that allows caregivers approved by the Health Department to grow up to 24 marijuana plants inside their homes for licensed medical marijuana users.
Since the legislation became a permanent law in 2007, about 900 medical marijuana users have been issued licenses, while 725 caregivers have been approved to grow and distribute the drug. The users must provide the Health Department with a signed form from a physician that says they suffer from illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy or other debilitating conditions.
Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Health Department, said that there will not be another informal community hearing. Instead, she said, Health Department officials will address many of the issues raised at the recent hearing and incorporate them into the rules and regulations for opening a compassion center.
Once the rules and regulations are completed and posted for public viewing, the Health Department has 30 days to change anything. After that, she said, the department will begin accepting applications from those interested in opening a compassion center.
“The rules and regulations will set the minimum standards for what the compassion centers will have to meet,” Beardsworth said. “When the applications come in, you have to make sure they meet all of the minimum requirements.”
She said that the Health Department should begin accepting applications this fall, and that the first compassion center should open for business early next year. Hogan, of RIPAC, said that about 50 individuals or organizations have expressed an interest in opening centers.
Once the first one is up and running, the legislation calls for two more to open in the months that follow.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: projo.com
Author: W. Zachary Malinowski
Copyright: 2009 The Providence Journal Co.
Contact: bmalinow@projo.com
Website: State to set rules to govern compassion centers | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Officials from the state Health Department will soon review a transcript from a recent community hearing in which dozens of people interested in running the marijuana distribution centers raised many questions about how the program will work.
Among the questions: What kind of security system will be required? What must be done with the excess marijuana? Can vans or other forms of transportation be used to ship the marijuana to patients in other parts of the state?
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have continued to question the wisdom of the program. They have expressed ongoing concerns that the operators could illegally peddle drugs on the side, or they could be targeted by criminal groups seeking to grab their valuable stash of marijuana.
Two state officials, including Charles Alexandre, chief of the Health Department’s Office of Health Professionals Regulation, patiently fielded the questions at the community hearing, but they had few answers. Instead, they repeatedly said that they are required to follow the General Assembly’s statute that permits the opening of the compassion centers.
Rhode Island is just one of three states in the nation that has approved the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes — the others are California and New Mexico. And, no one is quite sure how it’s all going to play out.
“We are definitely trailblazing right now,” said Stephen Hogan, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition. “We don’t really know what’s going to happen. This is all new.”
At the hearing, the Health Department distributed a 22-page document that covered the proposed draft amendments in the “Rules and Regulations Related to the Medical Marijuana Program.” Included in the draft were nine pages involving the operation of compassion centers.
Among the issues addressed are security, criminal background checks on people employed at a compassion center and how much marijuana can be dispensed to a licensed patient — 2.5 ounces over a 15-day period.
The compassion centers are designed to augment the medical marijuana program that allows caregivers approved by the Health Department to grow up to 24 marijuana plants inside their homes for licensed medical marijuana users.
Since the legislation became a permanent law in 2007, about 900 medical marijuana users have been issued licenses, while 725 caregivers have been approved to grow and distribute the drug. The users must provide the Health Department with a signed form from a physician that says they suffer from illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy or other debilitating conditions.
Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Health Department, said that there will not be another informal community hearing. Instead, she said, Health Department officials will address many of the issues raised at the recent hearing and incorporate them into the rules and regulations for opening a compassion center.
Once the rules and regulations are completed and posted for public viewing, the Health Department has 30 days to change anything. After that, she said, the department will begin accepting applications from those interested in opening a compassion center.
“The rules and regulations will set the minimum standards for what the compassion centers will have to meet,” Beardsworth said. “When the applications come in, you have to make sure they meet all of the minimum requirements.”
She said that the Health Department should begin accepting applications this fall, and that the first compassion center should open for business early next year. Hogan, of RIPAC, said that about 50 individuals or organizations have expressed an interest in opening centers.
Once the first one is up and running, the legislation calls for two more to open in the months that follow.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: projo.com
Author: W. Zachary Malinowski
Copyright: 2009 The Providence Journal Co.
Contact: bmalinow@projo.com
Website: State to set rules to govern compassion centers | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal
