Legalizing medical marijuana in Massachusetts was always bound to be easier to support in principle than in practice. That reality has become even clearer since Question 3’s passage in November. State public health officials now say they are likely to miss the May 1 deadline to issue regulations for potential growers and distributors of marijuana. The major sticking point has become where to put the storefront dispensaries — up to 35 of them — that the new law envisions. But a proposal by state Senator John Keenan of Quincy could resolve the impasse: Instead of allowing people to open storefront dispensaries, the state could create 10 secure warehouses and a courier system to deliver the medication to qualified patients.
Under Keenan’s proposal, there would be far less danger that marijuana grown for medicinal purposes would end up in the hands of teenagers or other illegal users. Cities and towns wouldn’t have to wrestle with the question of where to allow dispensaries. It’s a smart idea that deserves serious consideration on Beacon Hill.
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It is completely ridiculous to compare the egregious crimes committed by virtually unregulated compounding pharmacies producing sterile medications for injection and the baking of cannabis brownies. I don't believe there has ever been a single fatality caused by cannabis overdose, and certainly baking brownies does not require anything near sterile conditions. The regulations for such preparation should follow general Massachusetts laws for food preparation.
I think with a product as eminently stealable as medical marijuana, not allowing storefront dispensaries discriminates against poorer individuals who might not have the means to have packages delivered securely to their residence. Many apartment dwellers do not have the capacity to receive anything larger than a letter securely.
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The Globe was politically opposed to this referendum, and is opposed to ballot initiatives in general, probably because they run against the Globe's elitist and paternalistic philosophy.
I think it's amazing that the editorial board has the gall to suggest that the corrupt state legislature (how many federal indictments have been filed or are pending?) needs to craft legislation that reflects the "priorities" of the population, while directly undermining the law that the citizens passed by a 2 to 1 margin.
The people of Massachusetts are some of the smartest and hardest working on earth. The state government, unfortunately, does not reflect that: it's one of the most inefficient and morally corrupt in the Western world. Just take a look at the wealth in Massachusetts and then take a look at our roads, trains, and bridges. See what I mean?
The Globe SHOULD be urging the state to upgrade our medical cannabis law to be like Maine, where patients do not have to "register" with the state DPH at all. They only have to deal with their doctor, just like for all other medications.
Any medical patient should be very concerned with any aspect of their medical care being governed by the Massachusetts DPH. The crime lab scandal shows the endemic corruption within the DPH and Mass. govt. as a whole. So does the compounding pharmacy scandal, which killed & maimed hundreds of people. Once can see how these hundreds of patients, all in chronic pain, benefited from the wonderful oversight of the Mass. DPH, just like the poor minorities locked up prison for illegal drugs that weren't actually drugs.
No thanks folks, I'll never register with the Massachusetts government for medical treatment, or anything else.
North, those intelligent hard working people are voting the government in, maybe some common sense would help.
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