There was a lot of rejoicing when New York finally passed its medical marijuana bill last week. Every time these laws pass, Facebook lights up with a flurry of dancing in the cyber-streets from Broadway to Ventura Boulevard.
But as far as I’m concerned, the New York law barely counts, and in some ways it’s more harmful than good.
First, the law allows cannabis only for a short list of illnesses—AIDS; Lou Gehrig’s Disease; cancer; spinal cord damage; epilepsy; HIV; Huntington’s disease; inflammatory bowel disease; multiple sclerosis; neuropathies; and Parkinson’s disease.
New York didn’t allow chronic pain, the reason most patients use cannabis and the most misperceived reason. Cannabis detractors frequently chuckle when chronic pain is mentioned in the same sentence as marijuana, and it seems the chucklers won in New York. I suppose the catch-all “neuropathies” will cover a lot of pain patients, me included.
One of the amazing properties of marijuana is pain relief. Leaving out chronic pain is like saying, “You can use all the ibuprofen you want—but not for pain.”
A New York Daily News story on Saturday quoted the bill’s key sponsor, state Sen. Diane Savino, saying the bill was crafted after Colorado’s medical law. Colorado, Savino said according to the article, has avoided a California-style, loosely regulated system “which led to medical pot falling into the hands of teenagers.”
Now, certainly it’s a fact that some of California’s medical marijuana gets to teens, but it’s wildly disingenuous to hint that teen drug use is affected by medical marijuana laws. It’s a common misconception. It’s true that the California medical marijuana program is a leaky affair with cannabis flowing profusely out the back doors of dispensaries. It’s a good thing to avoid that, but let’s not mislead our constituents, Sen. Savino.
Marijuana use actually fell among seventh-, nine- and 11th-graders in California between 1996, when medical marijuana became legal, and 2008, according to statistics compiled by the Marijuana Policy Project. After medical marijuana became legal in California, the state commissioned a study to examine how the new law was affecting teen drug use. The results showed that teen marijuana use had dropped, and the study was never published.
Federal statistics from medical marijuana states show that cannabis use has dropped in almost every one of them since the 1990s. It baffles me how people can continue to blindly covet the fear that medical marijuana laws will get teens to smoke pot. It’s the medical cannabis version of global warming denial. I’ve heard police propagate this lie in public forums. It’s shameful.
I’m sorry America, but teens get marijuana from their friends, some of whom are known as “pot dealers.” These “pot dealers” are putting drugs in your teens’ hands, not dispensaries.
Medical pot doesn’t “fall into” people’s hands. Criminals put it there, and they’re certainly doing it in every single state that allows medical marijuana. It will always be that way, and not having medical marijuana is not the answer. Saying the system let pot fall into the hands of teenagers is like saying grocery stores let beer fall into the hands of teenagers.
New York’s new law also doesn’t allow smoking. Bafflingly, it only allows the most potent forms of cannabis available—the exact forms you don’t want your teens getting.
Edibles, vaporizing, tinctures and waxes are all more dangerous to teens than smoking. I smoke cannabis, and it’s kind of self-limiting. I could never sit and smoke 50 doses of cannabis at once, because my lungs tell me to stop. But I could easily swallow 50 doses in about two seconds.
New York is also killing off the opportunity for business growth by allowing just five companies to control the entire network from growing to extracting to selling. That lack of competition will almost certainly lead to trouble—lower quality and higher prices among them.
Anyway, I’m not convinced New York is a victory. It’s a baby step in the right direction at best, a largely harmful roadblock that will keep hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers buying black market marijuana—the kind they’re buying now. The law stifles business, propagates myths and ensures at least one exact thing that it claims to prevent—teens having easy access marijuana.
Somewhere in New York, a pot dealer is smiling today.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2014.
Yes, many of us prefer smoking. The lungs, or a singed throat, can clearly signal enough, but it’s also the nearly immediate effects. With some strains, one puff is plenty for awhile. Other strains may take a few more. With smoking, it doesn’t take an hour to know what you’ve got or how much you want.
The rise in popularity of legal edibles has been influenced by the meme that any smoke is bad for the lungs and marijuana smoke is worse than tobacco smoke. Neophytes are led to these clever, potent, tasty, sweet treats by the belief that they are less harmful than smoking, yet most of the bad stories coming out of Colorado involve misuse of edibles.
Yes, yes lets have medical marijuana. In the fashion that allows the most graft and corruption, then ban it again because of the graft. Prohibition does not work, is in fact more harmful than any drug. Those in favor of it, must also take the blame for cartels, graft and kickbacks. A flood of refugees fleeing drug war fallout, blame the prohibitionist, not the drugs.
Anything you do inside your own car or on your own property should be your own business.
Unfortunately we’re far far away from this 🙁
I am wondering how many dispensaries Brad Poole has been and how objective h can be working for one. I see several Dispensaries marketing their( HMMM) pain relief with student discounts, game day specials, happy hour specials, consolation gifts, for the more pain you have and the you medicate.
If Marijuana becomes legal it must follow all the other market driven products, it cant be exclusive to AZ. We cant throw out all the intrastate and interstate commerce laws for
for just dispensaries. We need to open up mail order farmers markets all over the counter and limit the sale like alcohol or tobacco.
Now we have exclusive allowance for medical use and that needs to be expanded and studied. We don’t need marijuana to be exclusive because of tax collection.
I’ve been to about 20 dispensaries, and I don’t work for one. I no longer work for Bloom.
That’s great news Brad, So then has having a column and experience in the industry as well as being a patient. Can I ask you for a opinion on how you were counseled on the use of MMJ at these locations. I do understand pain is the most common need and use but there are other apples on the tree so to speak. For instance HIV Cancer for appetite nerve spastic involuntary jerks nerve disorders.
I thank you as having been in the industry you can enlighten us on the training a weedtender has in physiology the total testing procedure to make it medical quality what are the parameters. What is the training required to become a weedtender? How much of the plant is tested for say NEEM oils and other contaminants? Can you give us the cost break down on how much goes to the state how much goes to operations how much goes to product after all it is non-profit this should be readily available.
My experience going to several dispensary are is that ailment you have the spastic nerve impulses you does it cause you pain ? Well yes and it fatigues me too. So I ask can we treat the nerve condition rather than the pain from it BOOM dear in the headlights syndrome. Then the colored chart going down the columns ailing ailment with strain anybody that can read a menu can do this. The best place I have gone is Tumbleweed as far as medical use and counseling on MMJ unfortunately these ladies were put out by the 25 miles rule and dispensary regulations. STILL RUN A REFERRAL AND INFORMATION SERVICE
If a person goes to a internet MMJ site you see all the blitzing by friends and owners. Statements like these dudes rock their AK47 is the BOOM and Angelia is hot too. We are being charges for a medical product at a medical price. You see so many dispensaries list the price for a gram and 1/8 at it’s highest price. so at the gram price we se a cost of $8,960.00 per pound or the price of a new Hyundai Accent. And AZDHS has a 6 million dollars tax collected surplus from MMJ. You missed the story of the UofA professor term cut for wanting some of that monies to study.http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt…b46c55e75.html
I have fared much better going to a caregiver grower whom grow for my ailment than market driven high THC strains for game day and student discounts. I see truly need people that the MMJ law was passed let them grow if they have a medical card. If you restrict to dispensaries only then these support groups will be gone.
I THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING AND HOPE TO SEE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THESE AREAS