Pennsylvania Medicinal Marijuana Raises Many Questions for Lawmakers

marijuana law reformThe first thing one absolutely must keep in mind in this discussion is this: We’re talking about medicine.

The legal, scientific, ethical, and of course, clinical factors for official approval of any medication is often a tedious, time consuming process, with input from various state and private organizations being gathered and recorded in order to set up the ground rules for producing, prescribing and marketing said medication.

In the case of cannabis, this process is somewhat more complicated in that this is not a new drug created in a lab, with little or no preexisting legal status to contend with.

Oxycontin, for example, is synthetic and not an actual opiate, so it doesn’t start out as a Schedule 1 narcotic. It goes through the normal FDA and medical community approval process.

Marijuana however, does have the additional burden of it’s preexisting legal status to contend with.  Not to mention the social status from it’s very prevalent role in the counter culture movement, which has to regularly be defended by proponents of full legalization, despite the mountain of evidence showing it is the most benign and non-violent of all recreational drugs.

So now the official process for MM will begin, and it’s going to take time before we see a state approved distribution system in Pennsylvania. There will be committees to oversee the process, which will include state officials, police organizations and the medical community.

There is a very limited list of medical conditions currently treatable with MM, and we’ll include a couple of links for additional information on the specifics of the law as it now stands.

It should be noted there is already a serious effort underway to get State Prosecutors to waive charges against those who are caught with marijuana but have a medical condition which would qualify them for MM under the new law. We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.

In the meantime, there is still a statewide effort to get marijuana fully legalized for recreational use, that is far from over. We’ve seen progress in cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and we’re starting to see similar decriminalization efforts in more rural communities.

The economic benefits of legalization for the state alone should be enough to convince lawmakers this is not just a savings for law enforcement and an overcrowded legal system, but an incredible opportunity for Pennsylvania to raise serious revenue. And not just taxes directly collected from sales, but tourism dollars.

I’d love to have a week long festival at Point State Park called, Potsburgh Fest! Fireworks, music, weed… food sales for vendors would be insane! And no fights at all. Just a sh*tload of really chill people spending money.

Maybe I’m a dreamer, but we just won a major victory. It could happen…

For more information on medicinal marijuana in Pennsylvania:

Pennsylvania Medical Cannabis Society

Pittsburgh NORML

 

 

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