INITIATIVE WILL IMPROVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Your Oct. 16 editorial, "Medical marijuana law needs attention,"
correctly identifies that we need to fine-tune Oregon's medical
marijuana law. But calling for the Legislature to improve the law
won't make it happen. Instead we need to pass a new medical marijuana
initiative.

The medical marijuana program is going through some growing pains. It
is growing rapidly because marijuana is a relatively safe, effective
medicine that relieves pain, nausea and many other symptoms. Over
28,000 Oregon patients have been qualified by over 3,000 doctors.

The debate over whether marijuana is medicine is over. It is high
time to have a regulated system providing the medical marijuana to
those patients in a safe convenient way that doesn't cause other problems.

The original Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, passed by voters in 1998,
did not create a supply system for medical marijuana. Federal law
made that nearly impossible, until now.

The current law requires patients to have their own gardens. This
works for some, but for most patients, producing their own medicine
is a big headache. Many patients just can't grow or find someone to
do it for them. They either go without or buy marijuana on the black market.

Under the current law, it is a felony to sell marijuana to anyone,
even a qualified patient. That has made life difficult for patients
and their caregivers. Imagine what it would be like if we all had to
produce our own aspirin instead of buying it.

For years, every time lawmakers have considered improving the supply
system they have concluded that federal laws prohibiting marijuana
sales make it impossible. But on Oct. 19, the Obama administration
announced it won't interfere with state medical marijuana laws. This
opens the door for Oregon to actually create a regulated medical
marijuana supply system that will work. A new medical marijuana
initiative will do just that.

Initiative 28 will create a controlled system of licensed producers
and dispensaries. Dispensaries will have to be Oregon nonprofits, pay
a $2,000 license fee and pay a 10 percent tax on gross sales. They
also will have to follow Department of Human Services regulations
regarding record keeping, security, zoning and other issues.
Producers will have to pay a $1,000 license fee and pay the 10
percent tax. Any registered patient will be able to shop at any
dispensary and dispensaries will be able to purchase their supplies
from any licensed producer. All producers and dispensary employees
will have to pass criminal background checks. All activities will be
subject to health department regulation and inspections.

This system will be better for everyone. Patients who don't want a
marijuana garden, but just want the medicine will be able to get it.
And instead of the unknown product they get now, medical marijuana
can be quality controlled and labeled for strength. There is more
than one active ingredient in marijuana and doctors will be able to
fine-tune the formulations their patients use.

Initiative 28 strikes the right balance between regulation and
freedom. The bills the Legislature considered were all unworkable.

One bill considered having one farm with a monopoly on all
production, possibly at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Besides
ignoring that competition is a good thing, this bill would have
recriminalized the thousands of legitimate medical marijuana growers.
We already know that prohibiting marijuana will never work -- what we
need is appropriate, effective regulation.

Initiative 28 also calls for a DHS-regulated program to assist
low-income patients and allows DHS to conduct scientific research
into medical marijuana. Much recent evidence points to new medical
uses for marijuana, but these are not well understood and deserve
much more careful scientific study.

Depending on how many patients qualify in the future and how much
they spend on medical marijuana, this new system actually will raise
millions of dollars for other health programs. Our estimates are $10
million to $40 million the first year. California dispensaries
already are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in sales taxes.
Instead of treating medical marijuana as a problem, we can turn it
into a solution.

Medical marijuana is here to stay. It can be a godsend for patients
suffering from severe chronic pain whose alternatives are more
dangerous pharmaceutical painkillers. If the patient is you or a
loved one, don't you want the choice to have available whatever
medicine works best for you? The time is right for Oregon to take the
lead in showing that appropriate regulation will make medical
marijuana a win-win situation.