Earlier this year I attended a bill signing in Annapolis. Gov. Martin "Opie" O'Malley signed a new medical marijuana bill heralded as the final step for Maryland to be a medical marijuana state. Check the web page for Gov. O'Malley's MMJ commission, the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission (Commission), does it appear to you that they've taken any action since then. They have met 3 times; the minutes of two of those meetings are online here: Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission
I apologize to my fellow activists. I've been lacking in my research of what's been going on. Probably because I feel like nothing is going on. More below the fold.
I've never been a huge fan of this commission. I favored and still favor a system of personal cultivation and small co-ops versus this New Jersey style, Big Pharma model medical marijuana program that seems to be coming our way. This year in my op-ed in the Baltimore Sun Fight Crime: Legalize Pot I came out in favor of tax & regulate as the fairest and smartest marijuana reform being considered. That was not my headline. Publishers get to write the headlines.
I have attended & testified at hearings, visited with legislators, written op-eds all in favor of cutting out an exception for the medicinal use of cannabis. Long before William Randolph Hearst and Harry Anslinger came along people around the world have used marijuana to treat a variety of conditions. If at this point I have to list them for readers I say you’re coming late to the party.
Personally I have used cannabis as my preferred analgesic to treat pain from rampant osteoarthritis. No, everyone does not have what I have. Yours probably exists in the joints you have used the most, mine is in every major joint in my body. It is the end result of pushing a muscular skeletal system that was ravaged by polio.
The other condition brought on by my 1955 Polio infection is called Post-Polio Syndrome. I have drastic and new weakness in my legs and what doctors refer to as my "hip girdle" or sometimes "pelvic girdle." That weakness triggers muscle spasms in my arms & legs, frequently when I'm sleeping. I wake up with my hamstring so knotted it looks like a softball under my skin.
Many Americans from coast to coast have been attempting to pass medical marijuana laws. Regrettably though now more and more states have been moving away from the less government models of Oregon & Rhodes Island in favor of New Jersey's Big Pharma model. Here's what people who have never lived in New Jersey don't know. North Carolina may have its research triangle to develop new drugs but when it comes time to pump out those pills the work goes to New Jersey.
I have frequently criticized the O'Malley Administration for its turnaround on this issue. In '07 he favored the Gladden/Oaks bill modeled after Rhodes Island's law. Then the next time we got close to passing a bill it was too expensive. Then we got a "Work Group" which was followed by the Commission which was handcuffed by the provision that any program be run by a teaching hospital ignoring the fact that teaching hospitals depend on federal research dollars. This year we fixed that and we are now waiting for the Commission to issue its regulations.
Before the signing ceremony I told some of the members of the Commission that I'd like to know when to come and give my input. They said it will be on the web page. Examining only those meetings after April 14, 2014 do you see anything about when we're supposed to come & give our input? I surely don't.
There is in the minutes of the meeting held on April 22, 2014 a "Counsel's Report" that states, “the public has a right to attend and view the proceeding but the Open Meetings Act does not guarantee a right to participate." IOW we're welcome to sit there quietly and watch while a bunch of government appointees of which only one has any real life experience with this issue decides when, where, how much and what kinds of cannabis we will have access to.
Even more upsetting by my reading of the law is that the commission can do all this work but in the end their regulations have to be approved by the Sec. of Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene (DHMH) who right now is Sec. Sharfstein and he testified against this law in the first place. According to that same "Counsel's Report" here is the exact statement contained in that report: "Kristen stated that once the Commission approves the Regulations they then go through the rest of the process which includes reviews and approvals by both the Secretary DHMH and AELR Committee of the Maryland General Assembly."
By my reading this means that after the Commission spends all it's time coming up with regulations, then the Sec. of DHMH who is on record of not approving of medical marijuana laws because marijuana hasn't gotten FDA approval will have veto power over those regulations.
I have one more bone to pick concerning the appointees to the Commission. The law that set it up stated it had to have: ONE MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WHO SUPPORTS THE USE OF MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES AND WHO IS OR WAS A PATIENT WHO FOUND RELIEF FROM THE USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA;. My bone is about the person chosen to fulfill this position.
Not because I don't like her, I do. She's a wonderful person. We have broken bread together numerous times. We passed hours of tedium waiting to testify together. My problem is the person appointed to this position has a background in Big Pharma. While I know she was chosen over me and I assume others because we were supporting the more effective system of personal cultivation and small co-ops Gov. O'Malley thought she at least on paper appeared to be, shall we say someone who will be more reasonable. Once again Gov. Opie probably got it wrong but the spirit of this position was quite different than what we got.
The idea of this member of the public was to choose someone who could speak from experience, which this person can do. She did use cannabis to treat leukemia, it did work and when she went into remission she stopped. I know the lawmakers I spoke with at the time the Commission was being put together favored someone who is permanently disabled and who will need to use cannabis long term.
I have purposely omitted the name of that Commission member. Do NOT seek her out only to chastise and criticize someone who IS on our side. I just object to the politics of this whole mess.
So once again I will call on Maryland marijuana reform activists to attend another meeting with those now tasked with making a poor medical marijuana law a bit better. If you want a better medical marijuana program you have to let your voice be heard. The Commission's next meeting is July 22, 2014 in the Legislative Services Building - Joint Hearing Room. This is where the legislative hearings have been held the last few years.
Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 6:20 AM PT: UPDATE: I have to eat a large plate of crow. I have only my senior brain to blame for it but after all I said in this diary, I missed the Commission meeting.I told numerous people I was going, including my wife yet somehow it never made it onto my calendar. My intentions were good my follow thru lacking to be sure.