BRINGING SAFE MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO OUR REGION

If not for the press release and subsequent news story, most southwest
New Mexico residents wouldn't know that a new medical marijuana
provider has been licensed for Catron County.

Which is a good thing. Area residents who are certified to consume
cannabis for medical reasons will now be able to obtain their supply
without needing to travel to Albuquerque, while the rest of us should
notice no difference at all.

When the law allowing for medical marijuana use was being debated in
the New Mexico Legislature, there was great concern among opponents
that New Mexico would follow other states such as California, where
loose controls have created a system where just about anyone can
qualify for medical marijuana.

In New Mexico, only those patients suffering from one of 15 qualifying
conditions - severe chronic pain, painful peripheral neuropathy,
intractable nausea/vomiting, severe anorexia/cachexia, hepatitis C
infection currently receiving antiviral treatment, Crohn's disease,
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou
Gehrig's disease), cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, damage to the
nervous tissue of the spinal cord with intractable spasticity,
epilepsy, HIV/AIDS and hospice patients - can apply.

A doctor must recommend cannabis use for treatment of these
conditions, and the patient is directed by the state Health Department
to a regional provider. But, before the addition of six new providers,
there had been only five in the state, and none in Grant, Hidalgo or
Catron counties. The state will not release the identities or
addresses of medical marijuana providers.

"We have really moved slowly to approve additional producers, or even
to approve our first one, because we want to make sure we develop a
system in New Mexico where patients do have access to the medical
cannabis they need without creating an excess supply," explained
Department of Health spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer.

While the research on medical marijuana continues, we are convinced by
the testimony of numerous chronically ill patients who say that
nothing else brings them the same relief. The state is to be commended
for creating a safe and secure system that provides for patients while
also safeguarding against abuse.