HPMI Blog

What is a good model? (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:45:00

Hawaii’s model of issuing reasonably priced licenses to all compassion center collectives, growers + Medicinal suppliers (edibles, salves etc) is a great example to follow

We suggest San Jose city council review Hawaii’s state legislature lead.

Health Benefits of Cannabis (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:42:00

Reduces inflammation.
Activates/ stimulates endothelium system allowing blood to flow freely.
Reduces stress.
The health benefits of Medicinal Cannabis are well established.
Government needs to stop interfering in patient’s rights to safe access.

Our Neighbors San Francisco & Hawaii (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:41:00

San Francisco:

San Francisco successfully runs 35+ compassion centers.
San Francisco’s population is smaller than San Jose’s
San Francisco’s geographic area fits into city of San Jose almost 4 times.

Hawaii:

Hawaii proposes a 3 tier licensing model that charges $20,000 to run a legal compassion center; $10,000 to cultivate & $10,000 to manufacture Medical Cannabis infused products.
San Jose should look at Hawaii’s model as a way to successfully regulate compassion centers.

The Voters spoke for a 7% tax. (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:39:00

The City of San Jose just implemented a sales tax of 7% on Medical Cannabis starting March 1,2011. Less than 2 weeks later they are trying to change the game proposing the closure of 90+% of existing San Jose’s compassion centers.
The city is loosing much needed revenue.
Give it a chance to work – at least 6months?
This revenue will cover the government costs in regulating compassion centers (fire, police, etc).
All compassion centers are here to serve the voting public whose use Medical Cannabis to heal themselves.
If there are problem locations, deal with these locations specifically. Do not arbitrarily punish a much needed health community.
Let the city agencies focus on closing problem facilities and allow existing compassion centers with clean records to continue serving their patient base.

What is the problem? (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:35:00

San Jose City council has proposed limiting the # of medical marijuana/ 215 compassion centers to 10 city wide.
There are currently 110 + compassion centers in San Jose.
The government still has not defined what rules and regulations are the legal criteria for who would get to run 1 of the 10 legal compassion centers.
To shut down 100 of the existing 110 compassion centers without even any plan of determining what qualifies someone to run a compassion center is absurd.
These compassion centers are serving the voting public’s need of safe access to medicinal marijuana.
This proposed legislation negatively impacts the sick, suffering patients who need medicinal marijuana to assist their health and well being.
Closing existing compassion centers makes it harder & more expensive to have safe access by forcing patients to drive farther to a megastore monopoly, limiting choice while increasing the expense of safe access.
The government should first determine what the legal criteria are for someone to successfully operate a compassion center and then judge each existing compassion center according to the merit of its performance.
Compassion centers are not for profit organizations by legal definition in proposition 215 (1996) & senate bill 420 (2004)
Compassion centers provide a vital need of supplying quality medications to certified patients.
To auction off permits to the highest bidder is morally offensive putting profits before patients rights.
10 is arbitrary + prone to corruption.
forces the market back underground.
opens city to lawsuits

YES! THE MAJOR PROPOSED AUCTIONING OFF THE PROPOSED 10 PERMITS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER – SHUTTING DOWN 100+ COLLECTIVES THAT COULD NOT PAY TO PLAY.

San Jose Proposes (cont.)

03/18/2011 10:30:00

Limiting the number of collectives to 10, closing more than 90% of existing San Jose collectives with no explanation.

These compassion centers are currently serving the voting public’s need.

Limiting the number of compassion center collectives adds hardships to patients by reducing access + driving up prices while forcing the market underground.

Compassion Center Collectives are not for profit by legal definition, to auction of permits (as the Mayor proposed) to the highest bidder illegally changes the playing field into a profit driven competition

This is about health care not profits. There are ethical ways the city can raise revenue from medical marijuana like the 7% sales tax implemented March 1st 2011. Licensing to all qualified applicants for compassion center collectives, growers and the makers of concentrates+ edibles.

We support the government’s desire to regulate medical marijuana and ensure that all patients have safe access to high quality medication. The 7% sales tax, though a high tax on the medically challenged citizens, was a step in the right direction. I believe the city should allow this new tax program to take effect and allocate the collected revenue to covering the fire and police costs of monitoring compassion centers

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03/04/2011 16:15:00

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Reuters - Drug Experts say Alcohol worse than Crack or Heroin

11/01/2010 17:14:00

LONDON — Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said Monday.

Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs.

Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences.

"It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed -- alcohol and tobacco -- score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances," Nutt, who was formerly head of the influential British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), said in a statement about the study.

Nutt was forced to quit the ACMD a year ago after publicly criticizing ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organization estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer -- accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

In an effort to offer a guide to policy makers in health, policing, and social care, Nutt's team rated drugs using a technique called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) which assessed damage according to nine criteria on harm to the user and seven criteria on harm to others.

Harms to the user included things such as drug-specific or drug-related death, damage to health, drug dependence and loss of relationships, while harms to others included crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion.

Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all.

The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54.

Among some of the other drugs assessed were crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine or speed (23), cannabis (20), benzodiazepines, such as Valium (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5).

(Editing by Alison Williams)