MMCC (Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission) Fails Out of State Patients
Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission denies thousands of patients through a new decision.
Earlier this week the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC) announced that they will be changing the laws as it pertains to out of state patients. The MMCC has had out of state applications on hold for months while they were deciding what to do with the regulations.
The regulations in question allowed out of state patients to be seen by a Maryland doctor and receive medical cannabis in Maryland. The MMCC had concerns over patients transporting medicine across state lines and have now decided to not serve out of state patients, nor allow them to apply for the program.
Who Will Be Affected by the MMCC Decision?
This decision hurts thousands of people that were counting on being able to get the medicine they were seeking to improve their quality of life. These are children who suffer from seizures, veterans struggling with PTSD, and people with chronic pain. These are cancer patients who want access to medical cannabis, not just to combat the side effects of chemotherapy, but to fight the disease itself.
All out of state patients were told the risks of taking the medicine across state lines and many were willing to take the risk in order to have access to their medicine. Many wonder why transporting prescribed cannabis across state lines would be any different than transporting any other prescribed medication across the same state line.
The answer there is simple: Cannabis is against federal law. Never mind the fact that cannabis is recreationally legal in several states, and medicinally legal in many others.
Cannabis and Federal Law
Don’t forget the fact that the federal government holds the patent on cannabis. Check out patent number 6630507. The patent claims exclusive rights on the use of cannabinoids for treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and stroke; and diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as heart attack, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, and arthritis. The government knows that medical cannabis could help many people but keeps it illegal and a schedule 1 drug.
The MMCC had a chance to tell the country that Maryland is here to help. At Green Health Docs, we believe you should have access to this medicine so that you can improve your quality of life. The MMCC’s decision to deny access of a safe and effective medicine to people out of state is just another setback to people who were counting on the commission to finally end their suffering. People seeking medicine are being turned away based on their home address.
There has to be a better solution to do what the program always intended to do: Help people.
Green Health Docs does not agree with the decision by the MMCC to prevent out of state patients from getting access to this medication. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any questions.