You may remember that on November 6th, 2012, 63% of Massachusetts voters chose to legalize medical marijuana in the Bay State. Massachusetts became the 18th state to enact this law, allowing those diagnosed by doctors to use the drug as self-medication. The law was expected to go into effect in 2013, where patients would be able to register and have access to marijuana at the dispensary facilities made available throughout the state.
As we saw, nothing changed during 2013. In January of 2014 it was announced that preliminary approval had been granted to 20 dispensaries. This past summer, almost half of those applications were ultimately rejected. 11 of the original applicants were able to continue with plans to open and serve patients in need.
Today, there are no dispensaries up and running in Massachusetts. It had been said that the law passed in November of 2012 would be in effect by the first of January 2014, if not sooner. Now that 2014 is almost over, patients are not happy and are not getting any better.
The longer it takes to start up this program, the longer patients are forced to wait to receive their prescribed medication, which they are legally allowed to possess. Conditions of these patients include cancer, glaucoma, human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. Time is of the essence for these patients, and the fact that they are not granted legal access to medical marijuana after two years of waiting is unacceptable to them and their families.
Governor Deval Patrick was quoted in regards to this law: “There is frustration in the places where none of the applicants who applied in a given county were qualified. And there’s a real tension here, at least as I experience it, between folks who want to hurry up and have the access that the people voted for two years ago, as you say, and making sure that the people who are in the business actually are the right people, are the people who say they are, are the people whose representations are in fact honest, and accurate and above board. And that has proven to be a challenge.”
(photo: http://dailyfreepress.com/2014/10/15/activists-rally-in-favor-of-medical-cannabis-use/)
A few weeks ago on October 14th, Bostonians protested outside the Department of Public Health’s downtown headquarters. Patients, their families, and others in support of the cause rallied with the slogan, “two years too late”, aiming their anger at the Department of Public Health and Governor Patrick. Medical marijuana activist Mickey Martin was quoted saying, “We have zero cannabis plants in the ground to serve the patients. It’s unacceptable to make patients wait”. Bill Downing, spokesman for Yankee Care Givers (which sells and delivers medical cannabis) stated, “I’m here to protest how the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts, through ineptitude and corruption, basically made it impossible for patients to get medical marijuana. Patients are suffering horribly and dying everyday, and it could have been prevented to a great degree by the Department of Public Health if they had done what they had said they would do two years ago.”
Jill Osborn talked to the press about her 7 year old daughter who suffers from severe refractory epilepsy and can experience as many as 100 seizures per day. After trying many different medications, doctors determined marijuana may be the only thing that would help her daughter experience fewer seizures. “Voters overwhelmingly supported a medical marijuana law, and I had seen patients, kids in other legal states have miracles on this medicine” Osborn stated at the rally. “I hoped that [she] would have the chance to heal. In the two years since that, my daughter has had 9,000 seizures. [She] suffers on a daily basis without access to this medicine.”
No matter how you look at this topic, or what your vote was in November of 2012, the fact is this: the majority voted in favor of Question 3, but has not seen changes. Through public awareness campaigns and rallies such as these, angered voters are hoping to draw attention to the Department of Public Health’s and Governor’s progress, so that the law they chose to pass two years ago can actually start being implemented.