This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on March 25, 2012.
The latest results of a recent poll conducted by an advocacy organization for people who use medical marijuana is confirming what many have been loudly telling legislators: By a wide margin, dispensaries are the primary means of access to the drug for qualifying patients.
Representatives of the Marijuana Patients Organization say the reasons that over 70% of patients use a dispensary to obtain their medication are many, but the most common have to do with the amount of money and time that one must invest to produce their own medication. “There is a common misconception out there that growing marijuana is as simple as watering your houseplants when the reality is that it requires an amount of labor that presents a significant barrier to entry for your average patient. Even if money weren’t an issue, the time and effort required is often too much for a person with a debilitating condition.” says attorney Beth Gemellaro, MPO board member.
Gemellaro also noted that in the current legal environment, another often cited reason for using a dispensary is that cultivating in one’s home still feels very risky to many patients. “In some localities, prosecutors are all too willing to treat a cancer patient as a drug kingpin if they believe they’ve found even the most minor deviation from the law. Many patients, understandably, would rather have that risk fall on dispensaries and not themselves.”
This notion is supported by the poll’s other major finding that only 15% of medical marijuana patients had produced the medicine by themselves. Gemellaro states that while the MPO is fiercely supportive of the right of all patients to produce their own medication, dispensaries that are already under attack need protection in order to ensure access to the majority of patients. “I don’t see the percentage of those who grow their own trending drastically up in the coming years. This law has had plenty of time to set in and the results indicate how difficult it can be to produce your own medication. Many are content to leave this work to professionals.”
Gemellaro believes that state officials need to look at the results of surveys like the one conducted by MPO, as well as conduct surveys of their own so they’ll see that dispensaries should remain legal to ensure access for the majority of patients. She admits that this may be difficult as he feels it is likely that some state lawmakers are in a state of denial over the existing law. “There’s definitely a group of lawmakers in Lansing who are comfortable with their heads in the sand on the issue, but fortunately I think there are even more who are beginning to see that allowing dispensaries is a much more sensible policy than forcing each patient to cultivate or arrange for the cultivation of their own medicine.”
The poll, conducted by the Marijuana Patients Organization surveyed 800 respondents and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46%.
What is your primary source for medical marijuana?
- Dispensary 70.2% (570 respondants)
- Grow Yourself 15.6% (127 respondants)
- Black Market 5% (41 respondants)
- Caregiver grows 4.2% (34 respondants)
- Other Patients 4.1% (33 respondants)
- Other 0.9% (7 respondants)