By Laurie Roberts
The Arizona Republic
If you’d like to discuss medical marijuana, contact Ryan Hurley, director of the Rose Law Group Medical Marijuana Dept., rhurley@roselawgroup.com
I was all set to go along with the charade.
All the talk of “patients,” of “caregivers” and “medicine.”
But the picture of the teenager holding his skateboard as he came out of Arizona’s first medical-marijuana dispensary . . .
Oh, come on.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery didn’t see the photo in Friday’s newspaper, but he says it’s an accurate reflection of Arizona’s medical-marijuana program.
“There’s not a single state with a medical-marijuana act or anything similar that hasn’t turned into a recreational-use program,” he said.
Potheads have been rejoicing for a week now, ever since Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon ruled that Arizona is good to go. The fact that marijuana is illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act shouldn’t stop the state from doling out doobies, Gordon ruled last Tuesday.
Statement by Ryan Hurley, director of the Rose Law Group Medical Marijuana Dept.:
“Ms. Roberts seems to suggest that based on a single selective photo that anybody who has chronic pain must be faking it and lying to their doctors just to get marijuana. Doctors, who, by the way, must conduct a physical exam of all patients and whose licenses are subject to revocation by their licensing boards for abuse of the system.
This sort of logic is tortured at best and horribly misleading at worst. It’s like saying nobody can have access to oxycodone because we think somebody might try to get it illegitimately. That is a disproportionate emotional response. Rather the right thing to do is what we are doing: work with the regulatory agency (DHS), the medical licensing boards and law enforcement to keep the program as medically oriented as possible, while ensuring safe and reliable access to suffering patients.
A National Center for Health report indicates that more than one-quarter of Americans (26%) age 20 years and over—an estimated 76.5 million Americans—suffer from chronic pain. To suggest that somehow all or most of the 30,000 or so patients in AZ are faking it is simply not supported by the facts and is a disservice to those who are suffering.”
