Why Thornton said no to medical marijuana
October 29th, 2009
On Tuesday night the vote to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Thornton became official. City council passed the measure on second reading by an 8 to 1 vote.
There were many reasons this ban was necessary and we have discussed those previously. Today, 9News has a story on their site that confirms why this action was the right thing for Thornton.
In an investigative piece, the news station uncovered a doctor who will write a medical marijuana recommendation for just about anyone in pain or not:
9Wants to Know has discovered that anyone for any reason can get a doctor’s prescription to buy medical marijuana – all they have to do is say they have pain and they don’t have to offer proof.
“He did it for me in three minutes,” a woman who didn’t want to be named told 9NEWS after she got her medical marijuana card from the Medical Marijuana Doctors (MMD) clinic in Denver for $200. “The doctor’s really nonchalant. He’s kind of like, ‘Whatever.’”
An unnamed man inside the clinic said you can make up any reason and the doctor will recommend you use medical marijuana.
“Don’t sweat it,” the unnamed man told 9Wants to Know undercover investigators.
Inside the crowded waiting room, patients said they were getting cards for bad backs, torn ACLs and for generic overall pain.
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Another patient said her husband got a card six months ago even though he has no medical condition. So, now she’s getting a card.
Most of the 40 patients a day who visit the clinic leave with approval for a card, according to the owner.
“If you come in the clinic and you fit one of the qualifying conditions in order to receive a medical marijuana recommendation, then you’re going to be able to get it,” Dr. Joel Cherdack, the director of operations for MMD, said.
Doctors at the clinic are paid by a percentage of the general income, which some say is an incentive to write more prescriptions.
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A businessman who works near the clinic sees groups of young men walk in and out of the clinic all day long, which scares away his own customers. Now, he wishes he’d never voted for Amendment 20.
“Those people are not sick. If they’re sick, they’re as sick as I am,” Mitch Van Cleve said. “It’s a disaster. If I had known then what I know now, I would never have voted ‘yes’ for it.”
In the past year, the number of people on the state’s medical-marijuana registry has nearly tripled, according to state statistics obtained by The Denver Post. Twenty four percent of them are men under the age of 30.
Thornton City Council should be commended for having the courage to do the right thing and protect its citizens. You can read the complete story and watch the video here.
UPDATE: These types of stories keep coming up and continue to demonstrate what a problem this is. Here is a new one: CALL7 Investigation: Earache Earns Pot Card
Related:
Isn’t this a little like throwing the baby out with the bathwater? If a liquor store owner is caught selling booze to a minor, should we ban beer? If a guy without a gun license kills someone with a gun, should we ban guns? Of course not. There’s a double standard at play here and it’s purely motivated by politics and so-called family values.
Not at all. The key thing is that marijuana is illegal and even if Thornton made it an ‘allowed use’ it would still be illegal. With no regulations in place from the state and the Federal law in conflict, Thornton did the right thing.
Actually according to the state of Colorado (as voted by it citizens) if a person has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana then it is legal. That is the key thing and even if Thornton disapproves of dispensaries it will stay legal.
If a physician is abusing his power of prescription then there are known standard means to handle the problem.
Some people are being intentionally dense on this issue because at heart they don’t like the amendment. But let’s not pretend that we’ve never seen rogue physicians handing out too many prescriptions.
As has been stated many times, federal law trumps state law. That is a fact and there is no way around that. If the two are in conflict, federal law winds. Marijuana is illegal in the United States and thus it is illegal in Colorado – no matter what Colorado voters want. If medical marijuana advocates want to change they law, they need to take it up with Congress.
I’ll drop the issue after this post since I like this site and don’t want to harp on the issue. One hates to be a contrarian.
Yes, the 2005 decision by the Supreme Court supports the assertion that federal law trumps state law. So as a practical matter if the federal government enforces the Controlled Substances Act then you could be arrested for medical use of cannabis in Colorado.
However, Holder’s DOJ has made it clear it does not intend to enforce the Act in states in which cannabis is legal for medical use.
In Colorado it is legal by Amendment. Given that the DOJ currently intends to honor local laws it follows that it is effectively legal.
That is, citing the true fact that the CSA is still on the federal books does not stop a resident of Thornton with a prescription from purchasing cannabis from a variety of dispensaries in the Denver area this very week. That is the reality on the ground.
There may be many arguments against allowing medical dispensaries in Thornton but the argument that it is “illegal” just does not hold water at this point.
And in fact the argument made in the article is not that cannabis is illegal but rather that rogue physicians are handing out prescriptions to healthy people.
My original point is that there are laws on the books to handle physicians who abuse the power of prescription. We don’t stop handing out prescriptions for codeine simply because some physicians overprescribe it.