SeniorBuzz
Member
It’s a tense day in the Zen capital of the nation.
After a three-month dry spell, the marijuana harvest is in. Baby Boomers, men and women of all ages, solemn and fragile, are lining up at NewMexiCann Natural Medicine, a medical marijuana shop or "alternative treatment center.’’ The call has finally gone out; patrons of NewMexiCann can come and get their medicine.
But as each patient reaches the counter, owner Len Goodman — looking casual in a T-shirt and baseball cap but speaking in a calm, professional tone — breaks the news: The anticipated harvest yielded a meager crop. Goodman is cutting orders in half so every patient can get something.
"I’m discounting it because it’s weak,’’ Goodman said, reassuring crestfallen patients, some who drive hundreds of miles for their supply. "Weak," says Goodman, but "I like it. I think it’s pretty good for the price.’’
The New Mexico Health Department has licensed five centers catering to more than 1,800 people scattered about this vast, rural state where marijuana is raised by dispensary owners under state supervision, or by patients who may grow their own legally in tiny crops.
Larry Love, a medical marijuana patient and internet radio show host, visiting Goodman’s shop earlier this spring, said unless patients are able to grow enough of their own, they still rely on illegal dealers.
"I hear every day from people who say ‘I just got my card and can’t find any medicine.’ The card doesn’t mean anything,’’ Love said.
If Colorado is the West’s latest medical marijuana wild child, New Mexico is her somewhat repressed younger sister. What New Jerseyans need to know is that their law — for better or worse — is more like that of New Mexico.
The New Mexico state Legislature passed a medical marijuana law in 2007, yet it took two years for the health department to approve regulations for the industry and allow a single dispensary to open. Many people have trouble getting their medicine, either because they can’t find a doctor willing to write them a recommendation or they live hours away from the nearest center.
About one-third grow their own pot, according to health department statistics, but patients and advocates say they also rely on dispensaries in case their plants don’t flourish.
An hour south in Albuquerque, Essie, a 65-year-old woman with AIDS, is among the cadre of self-growers, but not by choice. The gaunt 83-pound grandmother says she can’t buy medicinal marijuana because there are no licensed shops in the county. She has some choice words and an obscene gesture or two for state officials who are reluctant to license more centers.
"It’s a disgrace,’’ she said, mocking New Mexico’s law, the Erin and Lynn Compassionate Use Act. "That has nothing to do with compassion.’’
With some help, the retired psychiatric and hospice nurse grows a limited amount of "exceptionally harsh" marijuana. She smokes three times a day before meals so she can eat without vomiting. "I would not be alive without it’’ said Essie, who did not want to give her last name out of fear for her safety. She worries about break-ins, even with a home alarm and JT, her barky Pomeranian at her side.
Although there haven’t been any studies, the economic impact of medical marijuana in New Mexico appears to be small.
For more on this story click here.Although New Mexico is generally poor, vast and rural while New Jersey is affluent, densely populated and overdeveloped, Garden State residents may encounter the same problems getting access to medical marijuana, patients and advocates say. Public transportation is spotty. New Jersey’s law allows only the initial opening of six centers — two each in the north, south and central parts of the state.
New Jersey patients will be even more reliant on the centers because, unlike New Mexico, people are barred from growing for themselves.
"Wow, I feel badly for New Jersey,’’ said Love, a 59-year-old Vineland native. "People should be able to grow.’’
Advocates also say the Garden State could learn something from New Mexico’s willingness to expand the program to include people suffering from a broader array of illnesses. At the request of patients and on the recommendations of a panel of physicians, New Mexico has expanded the list of medical conditions from six to 15.
"New Mexico has excelled at responding to patients’ needs,’’ said Julie Roberts, acting director of the Drug Policy Alliance in New Mexico. "As an advocate, that’s thrilling.’’
But Roberts assumes that with willing physicians and state-sanctioned marijuana both in short supply, most people are buying the drug illegally. "This is something the state needs to be aware of. People are very sick. The state should do an assessment to see where people are getting it from.’’
Vigil, the Health secretary, said he lacks the manpower, and the inclination, to rush into approving more centers. Thirty applications are pending.
He fears growers will produce "excess" marijuana and be tempted to sell it to nonregistered users.
"All of us have to look out at California and Colorado as examples of how a program can become, instead of a medically centered activity, a mechanism for the legalization of the social use of marijuana,’’ he said.
Reviewing applications for new centers is a detailed process that delves into the backgrounds of the people who work in the centers or own them. Every applicant must have a detailed security and business plan.
Location is a consideration in the decision to approve new centers, but it’s not the most important one, Vigil said.
"The best we can do is put producers in concentrated areas,’’ he said. "People who live long ways away are certainly under a burden. But we have thousands of patients who are a long ways away from specialists, operating rooms – from critical basic medical care – and I don’t have a way to resolve that with this program.’’
Last edited by a moderator:
