The only way we will ever have a legitimate medical marijuana industry in California is if we separate and legalize the recreational aspects of it.
As a recreational cannabis consumer, the ability to have easy access to legal marijuana is an opportunity that is too good to pass up. The only problem is that to have access to the goods this business provides, you need to tell a couple white lies, such as whether or not you have a serious medical condition. Unfortunately, these white lies are a burden on the people who, on a medical level, would benefit from marijuana.
The best solution to alleviate this burden is to legalize the ganga for the recreational user and make cannabis a medical industry for the patient.
In a nutshell the way medical cannabis is set up in California is its own biggest obstacle. This is largely due to the ease of access to the recreational crowd. This issue could easily be fixed by a legitimate recreational cannabis industry along side a medical industry that’s actually geared toward people with serious medical conditions.
Proposition 215 (medical cannabis) was seemingly intended for the ease of access to medical cannabis for people with chronic pain and other serious illnesses.
Fortunately and unfortunately the terms of the proposition are extremely loose, specifically “any other illness.”
This allows physicians, who specifically work in the medical cannabis industry, to give out medical marijuana recommendations to treat something on the same level of medical severity as a stubbed toe.
If you go into your average pot shop here in the North County area, you’ll see a cross section of two different types of patients. On one side you have a lady with cancer who is looking for a legitimate alternative or companion medication to what drugs she is currently prescribed, on the other is a dude in a Bob Marley shirt looking to score an eighth of some True OG Kush for $40.
Neither of these groups of people are doing anything wrong, it’s just that the current industry has to cater to both.
Having a medical industry that caters to the recreational user in theory weakens the black market distribution of cannabis, hence making purchasing cannabis safer and eliminating a portion of the profit that would otherwise go to criminal institutions. The problem is that it also serves to de-legitimize cannabis as a medicine.
The best solution is to separate these two demographics into their own industries. Have it so that the lady with cancer can actually get her medical cannabis covered by her insurance and have easy access to pharmaceutical grade cannabis and cannabis byproducts. Recreational use of marijuana should be legalized to the general population, so that the need for a black market for cannabis is still eliminated.
Separating industries would hopefully create a well-respected and actually helpful medical industry, as well as a profitable and consumer friendly recreational industry.
If you don’t have a serious medical condition and want to get high as legally as possible, then by all means get a medical marijuana recommendation. Just be aware that a push for a recreational industry would both benefit you as a consumer and the individual who actually could use it as a medicine.
