Why some medical marijuana patients, caregivers are uneasy about legal weed
PORTLAND, Maine A handful of recreational marijuana legalization drives has the medical pot industry bracing for something it never expected to deal with: competition.
Growers, medical professionals and users of medical marijuana say they worry that people who want medical marijuana will buy it on the open market instead of going through the hassle of getting a doctors recommendation.
This is being structured for big corporations to come in and in a very short period of time wipe out the caregivers, said Lori Libbey, a board director of a Maine group campaigning against legalization and a nurse who administers cannabis. I wonder who is going to be able to provide for pediatric patients.
But in Maine and the other states considering legalization, others in the marijuana business are very much looking forward to the possibility of legalization. And some proponents believe medical marijuana professionals just dont want to lose their monopoly.
Recreational legalization measures are also on ballots in Arizona, California, Massachusetts and Nevada. Concerns from medical marijuana professionals have also cropped up in those states, and they have echoed similar struggles in states that have already legalized recreational marijuana, such as Oregon and Colorado.
Competition in the marijuana market has become part of the landscape in Colorado, which saw nearly $1 billion in sales of medical and recreational marijuana last year. The state went legal in 2012.
Paul Armentano, spokesman for the leading marijuana legalization group NORML, said some medical users and advocacy groups worry about potential corporatization of marijuana as the market expands. Tension between medical and recreational marijuana supporters, he said, has already become an issue in California.
NORML is sensitive to the concerns of medical marijuana users, Armentano said, but also understands some of the consternation is about angst over free-market competition.
There is a concern among individuals who largely have the marijuana market solely to themselves that the advent of broader legalization will introduce competition into the existing market and that competition will pose a threat to their existing business model, he said.
Some advocates of medical marijuana feel state regulations are the key to making sure medical marijuana survives in the age of legal pot.
In Massachusetts, the language has alarmed some critics who fear passage of the ballot question could compromise or perhaps even overrun the states medical marijuana program, which has already been slowed by regulatory delays since Massachusetts voters authorized it in 2012.
Nichole Snow, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, said her group, which supports medical marijuana recipients, is neutral on the ballot question and uncertain of its potential impact ...
