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RI has medical marijuana but its illegal to sell it so how do these people obtain it legally?
The Diocese of Providence has a history of hiding pedophile priests. I'm not sure if that makes them liberal or not.
Unfortunately my friend at work got cancer - she's fully recovered thank God. My point, though, is that she was prescribed marijuana by her doctor at the time. And a LOT of it, and totally potent.
Unfortunately my friend at work got cancer - she's fully recovered thank God. My point, though, is that she was prescribed marijuana by her doctor at the time. And a LOT of it, and totally potent.
I'm sorry but you're just plain wrong on this.
No I'm not the laws haven't changed regarding intent to deliver. You are just plain wrong..
Legal use, illegal supply
To qualify for Rhode Island’s program, a patient’s physician must first verify their need in writing to the Department of Health, which oversees the program (www.health.ri.gov/hsr/mmp/).
The vagaries of this process remain subject to controversy. Last spring, Governor Carcieri’s press secretary issued a statement critiquing the law as “so broad that it would allow nearly any Rhode Islander to be a user.” And to be sure, among those who think that only patients suffering end-stage diseases should be able to use marijuana, obtaining a physician’s recommendation to use it for carpal tunnel syndrome — as one patient reported he had — might raise some eyebrows.
Nevertheless, according to Steven DeToy, spokesman for the Rhode Island Medical Society (which has long supported the legalization of medical marijuana), physicians act as gatekeepers for many treatments, not just marijuana. “The responsibility the law gives them is no different than that they already have in counseling patients,” DeToy says. Certainly, fear that a handful of “pot docs” might end up dispensing recommendations to patients en masse has not been realized. The ratio of patients to doctors participating in the state program is roughly two-to-one.
Once a patient receives their physician’s approval, the Department of Health processes their application — none have been rejected thus far — and issues an ID card verifying their participant status. From there on, patients are on their own: the 2005 law famously did not specify how patients were to obtain the drug. And that, to both the program’s critics and supporters, remains its greatest problem.
As Michael Downs, director of prevention education for AIDS Project Rhode Island, puts it, the law has been a “great resource” for his agency’s clients, but lack of access places them in “something of a quandary.”
Major Steven O’Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police puts the matter more bluntly. “Basically, we’re telling patients to go buy drugs on the street,” O’Donnell says. “Even if the law works on behalf of people with medical need,” he says, “we’re asking them to put themselves in harm’s way.”
Bobby Ebert, who says he was assaulted in downtown Providence one night while trying to obtain marijuana, knows that this risk is no joke. But having dealt with pain for years, it’s something he takes in stride. “After all,” he says, “I’ve got a disease that could kill me tomorrow.”
Patients are permitted to grow their own marijuana, and many do, or depend on caregivers who do so for them. Yet growing pot indoors can require a variety of equipment — humidifiers, fans, and heating lamps — not to mention time and significant financial investment. “You’d think since it’s a weed, it would grow easy,” says Oliver, who recently began trying to cultivate his own, with limited success. He reports having already spent more than $500 on equipment.
This is why the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (www.ripatients.org), which was founded to push for medical marijuana’s passage, has now turned its attention to addressing the supply issue.
Ideally, says RIPAC founder Jesse Stout, the state would license dispensaries to provide marijuana to registered patients. Nevertheless, given Rhode Island’s small size, Trevor Stutz, RIPAC’s development director, is hopeful the coalition (which consists of eight state organizations, including the RI Medical Society and RI State Nurses’ Association) can “successfully develop an informal network of patients and caregivers to really facilitate patient access.”
Such efforts are much-needed. At a recent RIPAC meeting, several patients, including a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher suffering AIDS, reported they had gone without marijuana for periods of up to a month for lack of a steady source.
Stymied by the drug war
The question of how to provide patients with a drug that remains illegal continues to put the program’s supporters in something of a double bind. As Representative Slater puts it, “We couldn’t do more out of fear that the federal government would swoop down and confiscate the marijuana.”
The legalized medical law we have is still extremely liberal and puts us to the left of most states. (Only eleven other states have this law.)
I never claimed illicit sale was legalized, in fact, the Federal Govt. raid CA areas to this day because the State legalized medical marijuana.
I'm sorry you made such a long post but it was a third rail, and not really into relation abuot what I was referring to. Medical marijuana is legal here. That law is liberal. Other aspects of our approach to marijuana may be less liberal - BUt:
a) I was not referring to that
b) It doesn't render what I said untrue
and
c) It isn't anything unsually conservative when compared to other states. Quite the contrary, the legalization of medical marijuana puts us to the left of most states.
P.S. A recent poll showed that over 70% of Rhode Islanders approve of establishing marijuana "compassion centers" where the drug can be dispensed to needful patients. So depsite the fact this bill never made it out of committee, it does show a liberal population.
Rhode Islanders are pretty liberal? Who'd a thunk it!??
Not apples and oranges and it addressed your misinformation about availability of medical marijuana in RI. The scrip doesn't guarantee availability as you implied.
The article states that people with the prescription have trouble getting the marijuana and some go months without it. You made it seem as though there was no problem accessing it because someone had a prescription for it.
You were wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rnrboy
Apples and Oranges.
The legalized medical law we have is still extremely liberal and puts us to the left of most states. (Only eleven other states have this law.)
I never claimed illicit sale was legalized, in fact, the Federal Govt. raid CA areas to this day because the State legalized medical marijuana.
I'm sorry you made such a long post but it was a third rail, and not really into relation abuot what I was referring to. Medical marijuana is legal here. That law is liberal. Other aspects of our approach to marijuana may be less liberal - BUt:
a) I was not referring to that
b) It doesn't render what I said untrue
and
c) It isn't anything unsually conservative when compared to other states. Quite the contrary, the legalization of medical marijuana puts us to the left of most states.
One last point and then I'm dropping this because you're being a bit stubborn.
Go back to my original post. I never addressed its availability. I cited the fact that it was legalized, and then in a follow up I also cited the fact that most Rhode Islanders (you know, the people this thread is actually supposed to be about) are liberal because they think it should be legal.
I was speaking to the liberalness of Rhode Islanders, not the avialability of marijuana.
Please reread this and tell me where I was wrong? I say medical marijuana exists in RI but availability is an issue, a point substantiated by the Providence Phoenix article that I linked to and partially pasted in a subsequent post. You said I was wrong and point to a friend of yours who was given a prescription for 'a LOT of potent' marijuana.
I'm not being stubborn about anything. I'm trying to figure out how you think what I wrote is wrong and you are dancing around it. You stated I was wrong below. Specifically what was I wrong about?
Here is my post and your answer that I am plain wrong.
Originally Posted by gridlock RI has medical marijuana but its illegal to sell it so how do these people obtain it legally?
Unfortunately my friend at work got cancer - she's fully recovered thank God. My point, though, is that she was prescribed marijuana by her doctor at the time. And a LOT of it, and totally potent.
Breaking news: Cheech & Chong comedy tour in '09 !
Ding, ding, ding....okay round's over guys, back to your corners. Alright white trunks, remember no hitting below the belt.
I think I have a possible solution to the argument here. Rnrboy, where did your cancer patient friend score that super-potent marijuana? Please be as detailed as possible...
Also, who is Oliver? And do you have his phone #?
*** marijuana "compassion centers" *** Dude, that sounds so groovy!
Guys, I'm healthy as can be except for a few cavities. One time I was out of marijuana for a few weeks....man, that's when I started getting health problems!!
Ding, ding, ding....okay round's over guys, back to your corners. Alright white trunks, remember no hitting below the belt.
I think I have a possible solution to the argument here. Rnrboy, where did your cancer patient friend score that super-potent marijuana? Please be as detailed as possible...
Also, who is Oliver? And do you have his phone #?
*** marijuana "compassion centers" *** Dude, that sounds so groovy!
Guys, I'm healthy as can be except for a few cavities. One time I was out of marijuana for a few weeks....man, that's when I started getting health problems!!
A post like the one above ....reminds me why I like Rhode Island, and Rhode Islanders...people are laid back, never get too serious about things, and are just plain cool.
California may be the greatest “pretender” of the laid back beach person….but Rhode Island is the real thing!
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Breaking news: Cheech & Chong comedy tour in '09 !
