Medical Marijuana Licenses Won't Be Ready Until December, Say D.c. Officials.

[Michael Komorn]

Medical marijuana licenses won't be ready until December,say D.C. officials

 

 

http://www.tbd.com/articles/2011/07/medical-marijuana-licenses-won-t-be-ready-until-december-say-d-c-officials-64296.html

 

 

It's been 13 years since D.C. voters approved medicalmarijuana, but legal blocks have come up since then.

 

 

Irvin Rosenfeldsuffers from a rare form of bone cancer and says marijuana acts as ananti-inflammatory and painkiller. He lights up a joint outside the WilsonBuilding, in front of police.

 

“This was usedas a medicine in this country, legally, from 1860 to 1937,” he said.

 

He's one offour patients who get regular shipments of pot through the FDA’sinvestigational new drug program. The federal waiver allows them to legallysmoke weed.

 

Rosenfeldjoined activists Wednesday to call on the Gray administration to implementD.C.'s medical marijuana law, which went into effect a year ago.

 

“Patients aresuffering without their medicine... and patients should have access to themedicine that works best for them,” said Nikolas Schiller of the D.C. patients’cooperative.

 

The D.C. healthdepartment director agrees with the group. “I absolutely feel for them,” saidDr. Mohammad Akhter. “I know this is something we need to move forward but wehave to do this under the law.”

 

In February,Akhter promised the system would be up and running in 60 to 90 days. But concernsabout federal or congressional intervention have slowed down the process.

 

“We've receivedinformation from the USDOJ, USAO expressing their concerns about this and wewant to frankly be sure we acknowledge all the concerns that exist so that whenwe have a program to move forward it is sound as we can possible make it,”Mayor Vincent Gray said.

 

City leaderssay those hoping to grow and dispense medical marijuana will be able toformally apply in August. In September, a special committee made up of health,public safety and legal officials will begin a two-month selection process.They'll collect input from local advisory neighborhood commissions.

 

“The bottomline is we will be issuing licenses in the middle of December,” Akhter says.

 

Advocatescounter that the process has stretched on too long and the regulations are toorestrictive.

 

“The patientswho are going to benefit from this program are fed up and are sick and tired ofwaiting. They're sick of it. They want their medicine now,” says Adam Eidingerof the Medical Marijunana Service.

 

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Michael Komorn

 

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