# massachusetts



## uallach (Nov 7, 2012)

Where's our subforum?


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## bluntmassa1 (Nov 7, 2012)

patients young grasshopper.lol

it hasn't even been 24 hours I'm sure they'll have one soon enough.


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## irieie (Nov 7, 2012)

The law doesn't go into effect til Jan 1 2013.


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## DeCarboxylation (Nov 7, 2012)

haha. *highfive*

I grew up in MA but moved to ME for slightly less stringent pot laws and cheap living options... would like to be able to go back to MA eventually, and this is certainly an encouragement. But with CO legalizing I'll probably just leapfrog over there...


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## WeedFreak78 (Nov 7, 2012)

anyone have any knowledge on how this might play out? The law really sounds like we are going to have a hard time getting the right to supply our own meds. If we need to rely on state run,or "approved" dispensaries I think we wil get screwed with overly high prices...


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## irieie (Nov 7, 2012)

I have been reading the law. Most of it will be hashed out within 120 days after the law takes effect. There will be thirty five state registered dispensaries one per each county and no more than five per (this seems unclear). There will be caregivers for patients whom are authorized to assist patients in their marijuana use. Home cultivation will only be granted to patients who are unable to obtain their medicine due to financial burden or inability to get to a dispensary. There is still much in this law which will be clarified by the state such as the specific amount of a "sixty day supply" which is the allowable amount. 

Now the way this goes could be very interesting. It depends upon how fast the state will implement the dispensary system and how ready possible commercial operators will be to open up. If it goes the path of most other states, it will be a while before dispensaries open. This will open the window for home cultivation because patients will be unable to access a dispensary and be forced to grow their own. But on the other hand mass has had a very large growing community already in operation this could cause faster opening of dispensaries for one. It could also cause a struggle for state approved dispensary approvals with growers fighting over sites. This may cause a grey market from operators who don't obtain dispensary
allocations. 

I grew up in MA and now live in AZ where we have been going through all this since passing Arizona medical marijuana act in 2010.


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## Total Head (Nov 7, 2012)

I'm a little fuzzy on the role of "caregiver". Can a caregiver grow the herb? It doesn't sound like it with current wording. Does the caregiver act as some kind of proxy between a patient and distribution center? What do they do?

The more i read it, the less i'm clear on just who would be doing the growing and how one gets to become a legal grower.


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## irieie (Nov 7, 2012)

Here is the definition of a caregiver
(J) &#8220;Personal caregiver&#8221; shall mean a person who is at least twenty-one (21) years old who has agreed to assist with a qualifying patient&#8217;s medical use of marijuana. Personal caregivers are prohibited from consuming marijuana obtained for the personal, medical use of the qualifying patient.

So the language used us assist. This may mean obtain, buy, grow, prepare, administer etc. Something to be clarified. But the way I see it if your patient is unable to obtain access to a dispensary because of transportation, finincial or other proven burden then the caregiver may cultivate. The other ways to become a legal grower would be to become a patient oneself and prove a burden or obtain a registration certification from the state to operate one of the few dispensaries. 

Here is the deal so long as there are no dispensaries open, caregivers and patients will not only be allowed to grow but they will be forced to in order to supply their medicine. So its up to see what happens if people want to grow at home then oppose the opening of dispensaries or try and find a way to prove an undue burden. They also have yet to determine the number of allowable plants.


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## uallach (Nov 7, 2012)

The way I read it, it seems like the growing will be done exclusively by the dispensaries, and you can also be awarded a hardship voucher to grow yourself. I'm not sure if the dispensaries will be able to subcontract out the growing. The department of health has four months to turn this initiative into a real law, I think. Not sure how it will play out but it has to be a step in the right direction and the vote sets a good precedent. 4 years ago it was decriminalized, now this, hopefully in 4 more years we can pass a question like Colorado or Washington. It passed by such a wide margin that I think the people are ready.


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## berrykid (Nov 7, 2012)

what do u need to become a caregiver does a criminal record affect it how does this work and to become a patient i wass reading u have to have hiv, cancer, viruses can u be a patient if u have anxiety Ansomia things like that or just the hardcore issues like cancer im in PA and im moving to ma my father passed away and left me and my sister some realestate i could imagine the money needed to open a dispensary lawyers and tax id all the money u gtta pay to get it up and going


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## irieie (Nov 7, 2012)

There are no restrictions for caregivers as of yet. There are restrictions for dispensary agents they may not have a felony drug conviction. Dispensaries it seems will be allowed to grow at their dispensing location and one off site facility. 

One thing for sure is it is a good thing no matter what the initial problems may seem to be. When things play out they don't go as planned especially in these states who legalize medical marijuana. People will figure out how to get the hardship vouchers and people will start growing when the law goes intoeffect. As the law stands all patients will be allowed to grow their own 60 day supply for the few months it takes to figure out the laws, then it will take even longer to figure out how to operate dispensaries, then you will have a whole big struggle about which towns want them and which don't also who gets to open and who doesn't. There will be winners and losers chosen and the losers will slow things down in court. 

Also when it comes to conditions, there is an ambiguous ending saying anything which the physician sees fit. So while the diagnosed chronic illnesses are listed other co editions may qualify but not be listed. If I lived there I would get the ball rolling asap in January and find your doctor and get a rec and get registered with the state, then apply for a hardship voucher before dispensaries have a chance to open, this should at least buy you sometime to get in a few grows before dispensaries come and out you out of business. That is if dispensaries open at all, we are still waiting here in AZ and patients have been growing for the two years in the meantime.


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## berrykid (Nov 7, 2012)

thnx m8 for the info i get prescribed xanax for anxiety i get it reall bad i never knew xanax wass fcking addicting till i stopped taking them cuz all they did wass put me to sleep and lazy im a steroid dude 280lbs bulky as fuck all i do is work out and those pills fcked up my life i lost 40 pounds detoxing off of them and rehab wass 12k and when i get bck home and go to my doctor appointment he trys to prescribe me the same shit just in a lower dose its retarded i take 3 hits from the bung and im calm and cool as fck i go to the gym and i dnt get that crazy heart rate no shaking or dizzyness no hard time breathing but it just shows ether way ill neva fcking take any pills ever again idk if anyone has ever been threw withdraws but i rather be dead than go threw that phaze theres probably no chance of me getting a card for my anxiety but yet again theyll give me pills thatll just kill me as an end result smh 


irieie said:


> There are no restrictions for caregivers as of yet. There are restrictions for dispensary agents they may not have a felony drug conviction. Dispensaries it seems will be allowed to grow at their dispensing location and one off site facility.
> 
> One thing for sure is it is a good thing no matter what the initial problems may seem to be. When things play out they don't go as planned especially in these states who legalize medical marijuana. People will figure out how to get the hardship vouchers and people will start growing when the law goes intoeffect. As the law stands all patients will be allowed to grow their own 60 day supply for the few months it takes to figure out the laws, then it will take even longer to figure out how to operate dispensaries, then you will have a whole big struggle about which towns want them and which don't also who gets to open and who doesn't. There will be winners and losers chosen and the losers will slow things down in court.
> 
> Also when it comes to conditions, there is an ambiguous ending saying anything which the physician sees fit. So while the diagnosed chronic illnesses are listed other co editions may qualify but not be listed. If I lived there I would get the ball rolling asap in January and find your doctor and get a rec and get registered with the state, then apply for a hardship voucher before dispensaries have a chance to open, this should at least buy you sometime to get in a few grows before dispensaries come and out you out of business. That is if dispensaries open at all, we are still waiting here in AZ and patients have been growing for the two years in the meantime.


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## irieie (Nov 7, 2012)

We don't now how doctors will use this new tool mass is a very progressive place and the w as Is has much room for interpretation. I have gone through xanax withdrawals.


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## cmantis (Nov 10, 2012)

Its good to see Mass got their subforum but what about Delaware?


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