Marijuana Blog

Draft rules for medical use of marijuana in Massachusetts, issued Friday by the state Department of Public Health, largely leave it up to doctors to decide which patients will qualify for treatment with the drug.

 

Patients must have a debilitating condition -- defined as causing weakness, wasting syndrome, intractable pain or nausea, or impairing strength or ability and limiting major life activities -- and the regulations list qualifying conditions, including cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and ALS. But the rules also would allow doctors and their patients to decide what other conditions would qualify patients for treatment.

 

The 45 pages of rules also would require applicants wishing to open a medical marijuana treatment center, known as a dispensary, to be a nonprofit and to operate their own cultivation and dispensing facilities. No wholesale distribution of marijuana products would be allowed, the department said in a news release.

 

“This allows for uniform seed-to-sale control and maximized security,” the release said.

 

Voters in November approved a ballot referendum that legalized marijuana for medical use, but the measure left it to the health department to issue regulations that would implement the law

 

Read more: http://www.boston.com

THOMASTON, ME – After management ignored complaints about the use of pesticides on medical marijuana plants and other unsatisfactory working conditions, workers at Wellness Connection dispensary in Thomaston say that they took the next step – they reported the violations to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. And now they’re forming a union branch with the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW), the largest retail union in the country.

 

On Monday, March 26, the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services (DLRS), which oversees the Maine Medical Marijuana Program, revealed the results of their investigation, which found a laundry list of violations at Wellness Connection’s growing facilities and four medical marijuana dispensaries located around the state.

 

The DLRS cited the use of pesticides in the growing of medical marijuana, the lack of proper security and the production and sale of an illegal form of marijuana among the more than 20 violations of state rules governing medical marijuana that were uncovered during its month-long investigation of Wellness Connection, which operates dispensaries in Thomaston, Brewer, Hallowell and Portland and grows marijuana in Auburn and Thomaston.

 

Read more: http://www.thedailychronic.net