Go Back   Marijuana.com > News > The Drug War Headline News
Register FAQ Gaming VB Image Host Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 03-13-2007, 11:09 AM   #1
newgrowerNY
Sr. Member
 
newgrowerNY's Avatar
 

Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 441
Grams: 1,060.50
Groans: 0
Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts
newgrowerNY has begun their Karma Journey
Thanks: 3
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

Stock Portfolio
Total Value: 0.000
Gain/Loss: -1.000%
Default CA: As We See It: Medical marijuana abuse?

As We See It: Medical marijuana abuse?
03.12.07|Santa Cruz Sentinel

Like Capt. Renault in the movie classic "Casablanca," we were shocked — shocked! — to discover that some proprietors of medical marijuana clinics have pulled down millions of dollars, even as "nonprofit" clinics.
We're also shocked — shocked! — at reports that just maybe some people without a medical condition are picking up their pot at medical marijuana stores.

Most people in California, including us, support the idea of those in need of relief from disease or from chemotherapy being provided with marijuana to take away pain.

But we can't understand what has led this state to adopt a system of distribution that is so easily corrupted. The 1996 state initiative that allowed legal medical marijuana is such a badly conceived law that we think even pot smokers should have voted against it.

There must be a better system of providing treatment for patients who need it. After all, some medical patients are given morphine to help relieve pain, but that hasn't meant that morphine clinics are springing up all over the state.

Former state Sen. John Vasconcellos has blasted the federal Drug Enforcement Agency for keeping an eye on medical marijuana clinics. He told The Associated Press recently: "We're helping people who are sick and they have this fascist mentality against good health and pleasure."

Actually, there's more to this than "good health and pleasure," and Vasconcellos should know better. For example, agents went into a Sacramento marijuana clinic and took away two loaded handguns and 60 pounds of processed marijuana.

In Los Angeles, agents raided several clinics, and discovered that the average clinic had about $20,000 in profits each day. There were four dispensaries in Los Angeles in 2005; today, there are more than 100.

There's more here than just getting marijuana to sick people. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has actually gone on record saying that the outlet operators are more interested in big money than they are in providing a service to ill people.

Police officers and narcotics agents found that the operator of another clinic in Los Angeles deposited $2.3 million a bank account within eight months of starting business.

We realize that some clinic operators are doing so out of concern for clients in need. Not every clinic is a problem. But it's obvious — handguns, millions in bank accounts, Porsches, huge amounts of processes marijuana — that there's some abuse going on here.

Some might say that marijuana trafficking is a kind of victimless crime and that at least sick people are being served. But any time you have big money, handguns and suspicious involvement from people on the street, you know there's a problem. Local cities and towns more and more are going to be looking at ways of keeping trouble out of certain areas.

After all, cities try to regulate the number of liquor stores and bars, just because abuse can happen. It's obvious that pot clinics need regulation as well.

What we'd prefer seeing is putting marijuana prescriptions in the hands of doctors, and removing the potential for abuse in obviously under-regulated marijuana dispensaries.
__________________
Posting Guidelines




Disclaimer: I love to grow
newgrowerNY is offline Award newgrowerNY Grams  
Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Marijuana.com Sponsor
Advertisement
 
Old 03-13-2007, 03:02 PM   #2
newgrowerNY
Sr. Member
 
newgrowerNY's Avatar
 

Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 441
Grams: 1,060.50
Groans: 0
Groaned at 0 Times in 0 Posts
newgrowerNY has begun their Karma Journey
Thanks: 3
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

Stock Portfolio
Total Value: 0.000
Gain/Loss: -1.000%
Default

Give me a freakin break.

Why is it when pfizer makes BILLIONS on new drugs, drugs that have side effects 3x worse than , no one is up in arms about the profit they make.

Whenever a new product hits the market, in this case legal selling of , money always pours in. How will businesses ever get set up? How will it ever get mainstream? Supply has to outpace demand before prices will calm down. People are still having to go to the black market to get this medicine. "Caregivers" also. How can this conuntry be so short sighted?
newgrowerNY is offline Award newgrowerNY Grams  
Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2007, 05:45 PM   #3
Buzzby
Buddhist Curmudgeon
 
Buzzby's Avatar
 

Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 14,189
Grams: 42,808.54
Groans: 33
Groaned at 42 Times in 35 Posts
Buzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputationBuzzby has entirely too much reputation
Thanks: 486
Thanked 3,548 Times in 1,790 Posts

Stock Portfolio
Total Value: 0.000
Gain/Loss: 0.000%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by newgrowerNY View Post
Why is it when pfizer makes BILLIONS on new drugs, drugs that have side effects 3x worse than , no one is up in arms about the profit they make.
Phizer isn't breaking any laws. Profiteering owners of supposedly non-profit dispensaries are. The whole system of medical marijuana breaks down when dispensaries sell to people without legitimate physician's recommendations. The physicians who write recommendations for people without a real medical need contribute to the problem.

Prohibitionists tell the public that medical marijuana is a fraud, that's it's simply a way for people to get high without risking getting busted. Physicians and dispensaries who provide marijuana to people without a real medical need support the prohibitionist position and lower public support for medical marijuana.

I agree with the author of the article. Medical marijuana should be prescribed like any other medicine and sold through pharmacies. The only reason dispensary marijuana costs as much or more than street marijuana is because the dispensaries are gouging sick people.
__________________
McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time.
Do we really want four more years of the same old shit?

~ Buzzby, 08/31/2008

Buzzby is offline Award Buzzby Grams  
Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Marijuana.com Sponsor
Advertisement
 
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
why do people insist stoners talk slow and stupid? majinvegeta Medicinal Marijuana 3 06-23-2006 07:17 PM
Mongolian BBQ Proud_Canadian Places and People 11 04-11-2003 11:48 AM

New To Site? Need Help?

All times are GMT. The time now is 10:21 PM.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52