Are you a supporter of medical marijuana? Do you support the legalization of marijuana? Well, this story is for you. The governor of the great state of New Mexico is proposing a government program to pay for those who need marijuana for medicinal purposes. (Associated Press)
On Friday, [New Mexico Governor Bill] Richardson directed the [New Mexico Department of Health] to plan for full implementation of the program, such as preparing the regulations that will permanently govern how it operates.Supporters of this policy should be cheering, right? Well, there is a little itty-bitty hangup in federal law stating that the distribution and use of marijuana is illegal -- DUH! So, this may become a state government vs federal government media circus.Under the law, the department is to issue the rules by October, including for licensing marijuana producers and developing a system to distribute the drug to qualified patients.
The new state law allows the use of marijuana for pain or other symptoms of debilitating illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV-AIDS and certain spinal cord injuries.
New Mexico is the 12th state to legalize marijuana for certain medical uses, but it's the only one calling for state-licensed production and distribution of the drug.
New Mexico, and any other state considering taxpayer sponsored medical marijuana, has to be very careful if they actually decide to implement this. (My personal feeling is that this is political posturing, and will never happen since the NM governor is running for US president.)
Canada made this same move. And, instead of people being happy, they eventually became upset because of the perceived low quality marijuana that was being given out. Check out the news report below or click here.