State oversight may tame California pot shops

[antiquie]

If this passes, patients may have difficulty finding a prescribing doctor (IMO).

SAN FRANCISCO -- Law and order may soon be coming to the Wild West of weed.

SB1262 is the brainchild of the California Police Chiefs Association and the League of California Cities, two politically influential groups that have stood in the way of previous efforts to legitimize pot growers and dispensaries by subjecting them to state control and taxation.

The bill co-sponsored by the league and the police chiefs' association would require the California Department of Public Health to license dispensaries and cultivation sites but only if they first had secured operating permits from local jurisdictions. The department also would develop "quality assurance" procedures for testing marijuana for bacteria, mold and nonorganic pesticides, which growers would be prohibited from using.

The legislation also imposes substantial new requirements on doctors. If passed, it would allow medical marijuana recommendations to be given only by either a patient's primary care doctor or a licensed specialist to whom the doctor has referred the patient. The doctor must have completed a certification course that covers substance abuse training.

Certified doctors also would have to keep detailed records and to report how many recommendations they give and why to the California Medical Board, which would audit those who issue more than 100 in a year.

[Eric J in MN]

1. Morphine is more dangerous than pot

This bill is a bad idea. It would put more restrictions on pot than on morphine.

To prescribe morphine, a doctor wouldn't have to be the primary care doctor or referred by that doctor, and wouldn't have to take a certification course. Only to prescribe pot.

Doctors in the ER usually aren't the primary care doctor or referred by one. It's generally better if they prescribe pot for pain than morphine, which is more addictive than pot.

[antiquie]

2. We need oversight of prescription drug "cultivation" sites.

As far as I know, the people who go to rehab for pot are doing it to keep the infraction off their records. Substance abuse training? I think the backers of this bill are waaay behind California culture.