Last month, the Connecticut state Department of Consumer Protection granted the first four licenses for marijuana producers, and they plan to award up to five additional licenses for marijuana sellers by the end of next month. With cannabis already decriminalized in the state, and a heavy liberal bias in the region politically, one may wonder what is taking medical marijuana so long.
| Neeta Lind/Flickr |
The grow facilities will be considered “pharmaceutical manufacturers” by the state, with all medication produced being put through a mandatory testing process before it gets to the dispensaries. Once on the shelves, sellers will be subject to incredibly strict regulations aimed directly at preventing diversion of medical marijuana to the black market in the state.
Still, with some of the nation’s most strict regulations in place, the usual suspects are screaming from the rooftops that allowing any medical marijuana in Connecticut is going to pose a huge risk for…wait for it…”the kids”.
John Daviau is the president of the Connecticut Association of Prevention Practitioners (CAPP), a vehemently anti-marijuana messaging group, and must be a real hoot at parties.
Daviau and CAPP recently announced that they would also take on the role of being the state representative for Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), founded by former Rhode Island Congressman who once drunkenly crashed his car into the Capital Building and never did jail time, Patrick Kennedy. Prohibitionists of a feather, flock together.
| Patrick Kennedy, co-founder of SAM |
On the heels of seeing the growing facilities licensed and approved, and with the storefronts coming in March, Daviau’s concern is that the 2.5 ounces of bud that each of the 1300+ medical marijuana patients in Connecticut is entitled to each month under state law is just way too much, and is sure to end up not only on the black market, but in the hands of the poor children of Connecticut.
Statistics released by SAM claim that 74% of minors placed in drug treatment in Colorado said that they got the weed from a medical marijuana card holder.
Kevin Sabet, Kennedy’s co-founder at SAM perfectly illustrates the inherent problem with the term “medical marijuana”, when he tried to play doctor by callously stating, “The average user of medical marijuana is a 32-year-old white male with a history of drug abuse and self-reported mid- to lower-back pain. Let’s be honest about the people we are serving here. It’s not patients with cancer, HIV, glaucoma, ALS or Crohn’s. I don’t think anybody here would begrudge anybody with fourth stage cancer with a month to live anything that would make them feel better.”
Got it? The “Smart Approach to Marijuana” is that you can have some weed when you have a month to live. The karma will itch and burn for them.
Chiming in on the wrong side of history is William Zempsky, a pediatrician at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, who says that his concern with medical marijuana is in dosing. In a conflation that should leave any logical person scratching their head, he states, “Every drug I prescribe has a dose — there’s no dose for marijuana. I prescribe morphine, I prescribe Oxycontin — I prescribe some pretty strong medicines, but I wouldn’t say ‘pick up a bag of heroin.'”
Gee, thanks doc. Perhaps if, in the first time in over 5,000 years of recorded use someone actually dies from a marijuana overdose, your point might begin to be valid. We have reported here on recent studies that certainly do show a rise in underage marijuana use as cannabis goes more main stream. What CAPP and SAM and those with a financial stake in prohibition don’t mention is that the same studies show teen alcohol, tobacco, and pill use all in decline.
CAPP and SAM state outright that their mission is to keep cannabis from becoming legal or accepted at any level. Daviau admits he has a lot to learn about medical marijuana, so he may want to start studying.
Republican State Rep. Vincent Candelora tipped the hand of prohibition a bit when he voiced his opposition to medical marijuana by stating, “Once you remove that fear of it being dangerous, use of it is going to go up.”
Always at the ready with that fear card, Sabet says that medical marijuana is a scam being perpetrated for no other reason than a massive cash grab. “It’s for people who look forward to the day when they can make money off of addiction,” barfed Sabet.
Apparently none of the white collar folks with the Connecticut Association of Prevention Practitioners, every last one of whom makes a very good living off of the addictions of others, bothered to blush.