Posted on 01/30/2018 6:27:55 AM PST by SandRat
PHOENIX — A Lake Havasu City senator says he's still has yet to be convinced that marijuana has any legitimate medical uses.
But Republican Sonny Borrelli said Monday the fact remains that voters did approve legalizing the drug for medical uses in 2010 and more than 150,000 Arizonans have state permission to buy and use it. So he figures it's the state's obligation to ensure that buyers are getting a product that's not tainted and, in fact, has the amount of psychoactive THC that buyers are promised.
SB 1420 would give the state Department of Agriculture the same authority over marijuana as it now has over other plants offered for sale for consumption. That would give agriculture inspectors the power to inspect the cultivation facilities where marijuana is grown.
More to the point, Borrelli wants what is being grown tested for what operators are using on the plants.
"It's the Wild West,'' he said of the current state of marijuana regulation, with no rules on pesticides and other chemicals being used on the plants.
For example, he cited a fungicide marketed as "Eagle 20.'' Borrelli said federal regulations prohibit its use on tobacco "because it's a heavy carcinogen.''
But those same federal rules are silent on use on marijuana, meaning it can be used.
"Well, I think the person that's buying that stuff, they need to know there's a heavy carcinogen in there,'' Borrelli said. "If you're a cancer patient, would you want to be taking medicine that could make you even sicker?''
Nothing in the legislation would ban any specific chemical. But it would require that when the marijuana is sold at the dispensary that buyers are made aware that it was used in the production.
"I want to concentrate on customer safety,'' he said.
Moldy marijuana is a slightly different question.
Borrelli said he's been told it can be treated to get rid of any fungus rather than retailers having to toss out the plants entirely. At that point it could be offered for sale — along with information on how it was treated.
But Borrelli's legislation also has what might be considered the consumer fraud provision.
"If they're going to advertise there's 20 percent THC and it's only 5 percent, they need to relabel it,'' he said.
If approved, the measure would have another benefit for the more than 150,000 individuals who now have state-issued ID cards allowing them to purchase up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks: More cash in their pockets.
The original 2010 voter-approved legislation did not set a fee, leaving that up to the Department of Health Services to charge enough to administer the program. In fact, the law bars the proceeds from being used for anything else.
The agency currently charges patients $150 for one of the cards, a fee that has to be paid every year.
"It's kind of hard to justify when they're sitting on $40 million,'' Borrelli said, with current Health Director Cara Christ having refused requests to lower the fees, even in the face of a lawsuit by medical marijuana users.
Christ won the first round when Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jo Lynn Gentry said she lacked the legal authority to declare the fees excessive, even with the health department running the program with a huge surplus.
SB 1420 would lower that to $50 for the first year and $25 for renewals.
His legislation also would give $2 million out of that health department account to the Department of Agriculture to start administering then program.
The measure is being approached cautiously by the Marijuana Policy Project, the national organization that put the initiative on the 2010 ballot and worked to get it approved.
"In principle, additional safeguards that prevent contamination with molds and pesticides is something we support,'' said spokesman Morgan Fox, saying he wants to ensure they are "not too onerous for caregivers in pracice.'' caregivers in practice.
But he said he wants to review it further before taking a position.
"I'm particularly curious to see if there would be additional or unintended requirements or restrictions that come with medical marijuana being defined as an agricultural commodity,'' Fox said.
It also appears to have the cautious support of Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery who has waged repeated unsuccessful efforts to have the Arizona initiative voided because it runs contrary to federal law where possession of the drug remains a felony.
"Unless and until the federal government takes action we have an obligation to ensure the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act is truly operated as a system for people who have a medical basis for using marijuana,'' he told Capitol Media Services. "Replicating the protections the users of any other type of medicine would have is a reasonable and responsible course of action.''
Because the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act was enacted by voters, it can be amended only with a three-fourths vote of both the House and Senate. Borrelli already is moving to get that margin, getting another 78 of the state's 90 lawmakers to sign on in support, including Senate President Steve Yarbrough and House Speaker J.D. Mesnard.
But it also would have to survive a possible veto by Gov. Doug Ducey who said as recently as last week that he has seen no evidence that marijuana has any legitimate medical uses.
Okay.
i literally lol’d
The medical benefits of THC are well established.
The problem is that reality is seriously abused.
SMOKE is never a positive delivery method.
Pot is fraudulently “prescribed” about 90% of the time.
It’s use is specifically contraindicated when some other medications are prescribed for issues of mental stability, as it makes the underlying condition worse.
Unlike many of FDA approved drugs?
Especially when prescribed 20 different pills.
There’s a lot to be said for growing your own. His concerns are valid. There is probably is much “the ends justifies the means” in growing weed at the prices you can get for it.
I know people who worked in tobacco and they were sick all their lives from the exposure to the chemicals.
The fact is that how the human brain actually functions is unknown. Its 90% phospholipid but just how those fats up there churn around to generate the unique higher intellectual functions that philosophically define humans is not understood. It is folly to legalize marijuana and in so doing increase its use especially in young people. Nothing good will come of it. Would any of you strident libertarians use a known pothead surgeon or a pothead to handle your financial affairs?. Legalizing drugs is just another example of an America that has descended into hedonistic debauchery and decline.
I’ve seen its impact on too many friends to ignore. At this point, telling me that it has no significant medical benefits is like telling a man standing in a rainstorm that it’s not raining.
And that is precisely the reason I am skeptical of "artificial intelligence".
We should make all sins and human stupidity illegal and incarcerate everyone I personally believe is wrong about anything, actually.
I cannot speak to THC (never used it) however CBD oil has provided relief to me that prescribed medications simply cannot. I've been able to cut back on my meds thanks to the CBD oil (a legal product everywhere..) and have experienced the benefits of marijuana personally.
For those who may not be aware, CBD oil contains zero THC so there is no "high" associated with it.
Wow. You got all that form one word.
Unfortunately the idea of America is people are free to make their own choices. Problem is when they make stupid choices and then want others to blame for them.
yes the plant has some benefit but it also has some negative side effect. Those thinking they are using product of the plant with no side effect are likely wrong just don’t know it yet.
It’s always that way, Gluten free, sugar free, grain free, fat free, THC free, it’s all just a secondary problem waiting to happen later on in people.
For your interest.
‘Would any of you strident libertarians use a known pothead surgeon or a pothead to handle your financial affairs?’
well, I guess it would depend on how well they handle a scalpel or manage a portfolio, wouldn’t it...? it is very likely that most successful surgeons or financial gurus have tipped a bottle or two in their lives; ought we to eliminate them on the basis of some spurious purity test quotient...?
Had a friend who used it while she was fighting cancer. She was a devoted Christian and a nurse. It helped her appetite while she was dying.
There’s also lots of research into it helping with seizures where other medications have failed.
Thanks for the ping.
As a thankful medical marijuana patient here in Florida I can surely attest to the efficacy of cannabis in treating my decades long depression & anxiety issues.
IMO, anyone who says cannabis doesn’t have any medicinal qualities is eitehr generally ignorant, or willfully ignorant.
IMHO, weed and booze have the same medical value, taken in moderation, they are good for what ails ya and that is all they are good for.
Sorry but you are talking rot. A culture that promotes the use of harmful products in the name of “freedom” especially in its vulnerable young people is making wrong headed value judgments and is in decline. Historically when a culture is overtaken or disappears, it has usually eroded from within before it goes. Witness Greece, Egypt, Rome, China, modern day Europe, the Islamic world and now America.
“Pot is fraudulently “prescribed” about 90% of the time.”
Got a link to validate this assertion? Or is this just your opinion being used as “fact”?
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