This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on March 18, 2013.
As an avid reader of all things and most things medical marijuana I have a grasp on what our medical marijuana industry is up to, what the next step forward is, the next lobbyist to take on the fight or the latest politician to lend us his voice.
Change comes from within, or so I am told. What have any of these so called advocacy groups in Michigan done to advance our industry? The answer, “I don’t know”. This includes our little group named the Marijuana Patients Organization.
Why do I say this? Well 4 years of the MMMA and the simple fact is, we currently have less rights than before. It wasn’t a lack of effort in asking others for help, rather it was a failure to bring forward the right effort.
How many of the current and debunk groups in Michigan have paid lawyers, politicians and lobbyist, all with ZERO day to day experience or a vested and personal connection to the medical marijuana business? Self regulation is the ingredient to sound regulation and effective legislation. Where is the blueprint, the corporate policy, where is the guide for future dispensary and caregiving operations? Something written by the professionals in the business not the criminal defense lawyers that pretend to have every business, financial and policy answer.
The Medical Marijuana Dispensary Association (dispensaryassociation.org) has put forth a good start towards a self regulated scheme and should be a starting point for groups that claim to “want to advance the industry”. Tell me another industry that did not start out self regulating itself? The pharmaceutical industry still regulates itself, with a little compliance from big brother, as a result they are “untouchable”
Why would legislators want to begin to regulate marijuana sales with no working model in place? This is what we are asking them to do. It happens in business all the time, can’t prove your business model or at a minimum, write down a business plan, then you get no funding. In the absense of a “playbook” that works in every part of the State, legislators will make up their own recipe, a recipe that has spelled disaster for Michigan patients.
To all the advocates out there, it is 4 years later, take some time to write down security procedures, business practices and other things that make up efficient operations and then share them with peers and then ultimately share them with legislators.
Dont think it is wise for any more dispensaries to ask the courts if their business plan is ok. We know what the answer will be. Still laughing about that one. But I agree about getting more legit.