share this story

Smoke Signal e-Newsletter

Submit this story     

Last week we told you that Measure 28 – the ballot initiative in Oregon to allow medical marijuana dispensaries – had received enough signatures to qualify for the fall ballot. But what exactly does that mean to the over 36,000 patients in the state?

As it stands now, patients must either grow their own medicine or buy from a caregiver who must have four or fewer patients. If someone is too sick to grow their own or doesn’t know a cannabis producer, they could end up going without their medicine. Dispensaries would be a welcome step up according to Oregon medical marijuana patient Lindsey Bradshaw.

Dispensaries would prevent illness from mold or insects, which can occur when inexperienced users attempt to grow their own marijuana, Bradshaw said. Licensed patients who want to continue to grow their own medical marijuana could still do so.

Dispensaries could also offer different strains of marijuana with properties best suited to patients’ symptoms, commonly severe pain or muscle spasms.

For Bradshaw, getting to select certain strains would be helpful, he said. The 62-year-old lost his spleen, a kidney, part of his stomach, colon and pancreas to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He takes various drugs to deal with the pain, but said opiates like oxycodone leave him in a haze.

The people of Oregon are attempting to put a safe, effective medical marijuana system in place – and we applaud them for that. We must get out the word and get out the vote in Oregon in November. A “revolution” of sorts is occurring on the west coast of The United States, and the major battles will take place this fall.

It is up to us, the new media and the independent thinkers of this country. We will throw our support behind good marijuana policy reform ideas, and we will see them through to success. Stay tuned to The 420 Times for more on this story and many others from around the country.

- Joe Klare