cannabisnews.com: Oregon Offers Help on Marijuana Rules





Oregon Offers Help on Marijuana Rules
Posted by FoM on November 20, 2000 at 10:42:02 PT
By Dan Nakaso, Advertiser Staff Writer
Source: Honolulu Advertiser
As Hawai‘i starts to implement its medical marijuana program, it can look to the Pacific Northwest for clues as to how successful, or financially feasible, the initiative will be. Hawai‘i’s program is modeled after Oregon’s, and medical marijuana advocates there say that although the experience has been positive for the 1,200 patients who have registered, the operation quickly fell $20,000 in the hole in when it began two years ago, only recently breaking even.
Oregon charges $150 annually to register for medical marijuana. That’s six times more than the $25 Hawai‘i’s program will charge."I hope the people in Hawai‘i have other funds because $25 is going to be very difficult to run a program on," said Kelly Paige, medical marijuana program manager for the Oregon Health Division.Paige is in the Islands this week courtesy of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i, giving officials, medical practitioners and medical marijuana patients a chance to go beyond the law and talk about the way the program actually will work.Paige brought samples of registration forms and Oregon’s registration data base for Hawai‘i’s narcotics enforcement division, which is in charge of the Hawai‘i program.On Wednesday, Paige will testify as part of the public hearing to discuss the rules that will put the program into effect, perhaps as soon as the end of December.It’s too early for Hawai‘i administrators to know whether patients’ $25 fee will cover the costs of the program, which is intended to be self-sufficient, said Ted Sakai, director of the Hawai‘i Department of Public Safety, which will oversee medical marijuana registration.The fee is designed to cover the administrative costs of overseeing the program, such as processing applications and monitoring compliance.The Hawai‘i registration is good for as long as the patients’ doctors say the marijuana is needed. And Hawai‘i officials don’t know how many patients to expect."Right now, it’s premature to determine whether $25 is enough," Sakai said. "We don’t know what our costs are going to be. We have to gain some experience before we ask the Legislature for any kind of adjustments."Taxpayers Don't Want To Pay:Like Hawai‘i, Oregon’s medical marijuana program was always intended to be self-sufficient, Paige said. The general feeling was that taxpayers didn’t want to subsidize medical marijuana, she said.Instead, the $150 annual fee has turned out to be costly for some patients, said Amy Klare, a legislative lobbyist and member of Oregonians for Medical Rights, the group that fought for medical marijuana."I don’t think most folks thought it would turn out to be $150," Klare said. "But they wanted the program to be self-funding."There isn’t much difference between Oregon’s law and Hawai‘i’s. The critical differences are in how the programs will be run, Paige said.Oregon patients register through the health department. In Hawai‘i, patients would go through the state’s narcotics enforcement division, which could cause concerns over confidentiality and fears of being arrested, Paige said."I’m sure everyone’s nice," she said. "But patients are nervous about registering with government agencies for marijuana under any circumstances, let alone with a state police force."Klare called it "the fear factor. We don’t want people to fear law enforcement just because they’re trying to get their medicine."Hawai‘i law allows patients to use marijuana if a doctor certifies they have a "debilitating medical condition" such as cancer, glaucoma or AIDS or for a medical condition that causes pain, nausea or other problems.Patients and their caregivers must register and can have no more than three mature marijuana plants, four immature plants and one ounce of usable marijuana per mature plant.Delay is Painful for Many:Hawai‘i became the eighth state to legalize medical marijuana and the first to approve it by legislation instead of voter initiative. Gov. Ben Cayetano signed it into law in June.Since then, patients in Hawai‘i have complained about the delay in getting the program running.Some have tried to use their own registration forms, based on programs like Oregon’s, only to have them rejected by state narcotics officials. Illegal huis also have formed and have been supplying medical marijuana.Paige said Hawai‘i isn’t moving any slower than Oregon did.It took her six months to get Oregon’s program in place — six months of hearings on the rules, setting up databases and writing the registration forms.Like Oregon, she said, Hawai‘i officials also need to be careful in writing the rules because possession of marijuana remains a federal offense."It’s not rocket science," Paige said. "But it’s a big program to get going all at once." What's Next:The state Division of Narcotics Enforcement will hold an administrative hearing to review Hawai‘i’s proposed medical marijuana procedures on Wednesday from 8:30 to noon in the State Capitol’s basement auditorium.The proposed rules can be obtained by calling 587-1414, faxing a request to 587-1244 or picking up the rules at the Department of Public Safety from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.Link: http://swat.state.hi.us/VRC.htmOnce there, see Title 23-PSDSource: Honolulu Advertiser (HI) Author: Dan Nakaso, Advertiser Staff WriterPublished: Monday, November 20, 2000 Copyright: 2000 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. Contact: letters honoluluadvertiser.com Address: P.O. Box 3110 Honolulu, HI 96802 Fax: (808) 525-8037 Website: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Drug Policy Forum 0f Hawaiihttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfhi/ Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institutehttp://www.medijuana.com/Medical Marijuana Hearing Nov. 22http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7494.shtmlHearing To Discuss Rules On Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7444.shtml
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