WILL MEDICAL POT UNIT BLOW THE SECRECY AWAY?

Our biggest priority is to make sure that (New
Mexico's medical marijuana) program runs
efficiently and effectively and that the patients
are served in a timely manner.=94

=AD Health Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres

Efficiency and effectiveness are good reasons for
the administration of Republican Gov. Susana
Martinez to propose a new, self-supporting unit
instead of the Department of Health to administer
the state's medical marijuana program.

But transparency about 25 state-sanctioned pot
producers as well as the certifying physicians
would be worthwhile goals as well.

The medical cannabis program, approved by
forward-thinking state legislators who understood
that one measure of a civilized society is how it
cares for its most vulnerable, was implemented
with the best of intentions. Those being to offer
patients who have chronic/terminal illnesses some
respite from the pain and nausea endemic to their conditions.

But in addition to those living with diagnoses
including cancer, Crohn's disease, multiple
sclerosis and HIV/AIDS =AD along with a few
ne'er-do-wells caught up in the criminal justice
system =AD the program has protected organizations
and the people associated with them who have no
claim to medical privacy. That would be the
physicians who certify qualifying conditions for
and the providers who are licensed to legally
grow and sell what, under federal law, is still an illegal substance.

And so for four years, New Mexicans have had no
way of knowing if the program is run efficiently
and effectively or if its patients are served in
a timely fashion. Regulations regarding
background checks of providers have been so lax
that only arrests in New Mexico raise red flags,
and then only those that involve recent, serious
felony drug-related charges. There is no way of
knowing if providers are convicted money
launderers or stopped dealing smack seven years
ago. No way of knowing if patients are being
gouged for a medication that insurance doesn't
cover or that isn't up to state standards. No way
of knowing if a few Dr. Feelgoods are handing out
certifications like Pez. No way of knowing if
officers in a so-called nonprofit are getting
rich providing the sick and dying with a little relief.

It may be more efficient and effective to move
the medical marijuana program out from under the
Health Department and make it a seven-person,
self-supporting unit. But lifting the veil of
secrecy conjured by the Richardson administration
=AD which ridiculously protects the identities of
providers who advertise their product =AD would
give the program credibility to go with the
compassion that's in the title of its enabling legislation.