FOR SAFE, LEGAL DISTRIBUTION

In regard to Senate Bill 226, I'd like to make the following
points.

While it's great that patients are no longer subject to arrest for
medical marijuana, many still have to turn to drug dealers to get
access to the medicine they need.

Since Vermont has no legal distribution system, patients who purchase
their medicine have to pay black market prices, more than they would
pay if they could buy it legally.

Patients with debilitating diseases like cancer or HIV/AIDS aren't
physically able to grow their own marijuana or wait three months for
plants to mature, and the last thing we should be doing is putting
them in harm's way by sending them to drug dealers.

In other states with regulated distribution, state health departments
only need one or two staffers to manage the entire program, including
patient ID cards, which Vermont already processes. By setting
reasonable application and registration fees for compassion center
operators, the program could easily pay for itself. In New York a
dispensary system was added to the Senate's budget proposal for the
upcoming year because it's expected to generate so much revenue.

This proposal won't change who qualifies. The law will still require
patients to have serious conditions and an ongoing relationship with
their recommending physician.

Studies by law enforcement agencies in Denver and Los Angeles showed
that dispensaries there were less likely to be robbed than area
banks, and that they were no more likely to be robbed than pharmacies.

DENNY LANE

Warren