Highs And Lows Of Medical Marijuana Where It's Legal

[bobandtorey]

If you think pill mills are a problem in Florida, wait until you see medical marijuana "dispensaries."

 

That's the word from states that have legalized prescription pot. And it's a warning that wary Florida lawmakers appear to be heeding.

 

Citing social costs, legal complications and a human weakness for easy money, critics say Florida will be courting trouble if it starts distributing cannabis for medicinal purposes.

 

In California, law-enforcement agencies routinely raid medical-marijuana dispensaries and charge licensed operators with a host of illegal activities.

 

A recent bust in San Jose seized 40 pounds of weed at an outlet that authorities called "nothing more than a glorified pot dealer."

 

In Colorado, marijuana proponents and opponents are squaring off at the Legislature on a bill to set impairment thresholds for users of medical marijuana.

 

Advocates for medicinal cannabis resist any such standard for roadside tests of motorists, noting that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, stays in the bloodstream for days.

 

Medical marijuana foes insist that benchmarks must be set for the safety of society. Proponents counter with controversial studies that claim motorists under the influence of cannabis are actually "safer" drivers than those who are not.

 

With 14 states legalizing medicinal pot, the legal wrangling is just beginning -- and drug-enforcement operations aren't going away. If anything, the legal apparatus is getting more complex and more costly as states assume new regulatory roles.

 

 

LAW ENFORCEMENT GEARS UP IN CALIFORNIA

 

Appealing to fiscal conservatives, cannabis advocates cite Office of National Drug Control Policy figures that show the federal government spent more than $15 billion combating illegal drugs in 2010. State and local governments spent at least another $25 billion, they say.

 

Yet these costs for America's "failed drug war" figure in all drug-enforcement operations -- not just marijuana busts. And, as shown in other states, legalizing medical marijuana does not necessarily reduce the costs. Indeed, it appears to increase them.

 

Responding to rising community complaints, law-enforcement agencies in California have taken to conducting surveillance and undercover operations to trip up illegal sales at pot dispensaries.

 

Posing as sick patients to infiltrate medical marijuana businesses, police have rounded up hundreds of suspects and closed down scores of operations.

 

Under California's 1996 law, marijuana providers are supposed to operate as nonprofit collectives, charging medical pot patients only for reimbursement of the cost of providing their authorized supply.

 

But news reports about ongoing raids throughout the state indicate that medical pot purveyors are profiting. Court cases are starting to pile up, and so are convictions.

 

Florida -- the nation's epicenter of prescription pill mills and rampant "doctor shopping" -- could be ripe for prescription pot abuse, too.

 

Dr. John McDonald, a physician in Indian River County, said that in "legal" states "all you need is a doctor's prescription to get pot, or to have it in your possession. That's been shown not to be all that hard to obtain."

 

McDonald says the medical benefits of marijuana are "marginal, and the risks of abuse are great."

 

Enforcing the state's medical cannabis law, California drug agents are working the fields more diligently than ever.

 

In rural Nevada County, local authorities and Drug Enforcement Administration agents recently raided a farm, seizing more than 2,800 marijuana plants and arresting eight people. The grower allegedly overshot his state-authorized crop quota.

 

And, inevitably, the Internal Revenue Service has gotten involved, auditing marijuana dispensaries' books. Since marijuana remains an illicit drug in federal statutes, pot purveyors find themselves in a curious never-never land -- legal in their state, illegal in the eyes of Uncle Sam.

 

TOUGH SELL WITH SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE LAWMAKERS

 

Amid the legal complications and costs, Florida politicians are keeping their distance from the medical pot measure proposed by state Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth.

 

Clemens' House Joint Resolution 1407 would, if passed by the Legislature, allow Floridians to vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana. If the ballot measure wins at least 60 percent of the vote, it would go back to the Legislature, which would write the enabling rules and regulations.

 

Clemens, a freshman Democrat, acknowledges that he has yet to receive any support from Republican colleagues who control both houses of the Legislature. Florida Atlantic University political science professor Kevin Wagner says it's not likely he will get co-signers anytime soon.

 

"It's a cross-cutting issue for the GOP," Wagner said. "There are Republicans who lean libertarian. But in Florida, it's more the social conservative wing that prevails."

 

John Stemberger, an Orlando attorney and head of the conservative Family Policy Council, agrees that the chances for Clemens' bill are slim -- and for good reason.

 

"The real problem is, this sets a bad example for teens and there is enormous abuse," Stemberger told Fox News.

 

"Just look at California. There is tremendous fraud with this. You can buy medical marijuana online with a credit card. With all the painkiller fraud we have here, it's unnecessary."

 

TURNING LIBERTARIAN ARGUMENT ON ITS HEAD

 

Pot advocates point to a recent survey by a GOP pollster who found a majority of Floridians appear to favor legalizing medical marijuana.

 

But Wagner discounted that supposed groundswell of support.

 

"When you poll on an issue that people don't know much about, you get soft results. You get a lot of off-the-top-of-the-head answers. The mood can shift dramatically," Wagner said.

 

Calling Clemens' bill an "iffy proposition" at the Legislature, Wagner said, "There's a better chance of stopping Rick Scott's education reform bill than passing this."

 

Ironically, the legal-pot argument that "government should get out of people's lives" has been turned on its head in states that have sanctioned medical marijuana.

 

With increasingly elaborate permitting, licensing, taxing and regulation of the pot business from seed to sale, government's reach has expanded in size and cost.

 

Politically speaking, Clemens is betting that medical marijuana will be more palatable to Florida voters than full-on legalization -- which, he says, is his ultimate goal.

 

As an added selling point, the former Lake Worth mayor estimates that Florida could reap "anywhere from $5 million to $12 million" in government fees stemming from legalized marijuana. Advocates maintain that this new revenue stream will cover, or at least partially offset, enforcement and regulatory costs.

 

But Clemens' foray into legalized pot is off to a staggering start.

 

"There is no advantage for anyone to go on the record about [Clemens'] bill because it contains a great deal of political land mines," Wagner concluded

 

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/highs-lows-medical-marijuana-states-where-legal