Letter: Provide Safe, Reliable Access To Medical Pot
James Anthony Jr.
December 3, 2008
Honolulu Advertiser (HI)
As a Hawai'i-born expert on local regulation of medical marijuana (licensed to practice law in California and Hawaii), I learned some things from the Nov. 24 article, "Medical pot users up 87%."
Apparently Keith Kamita, head of the state's Narcotics Enforcement Division, thinks he knows better than doctors what drugs people should use. He also thinks he knows better what "debilitating pain" is. And he can apparently read the Legislature's mind and knows what their intent is. This is the problem with Hawaii's medical marijuana law, it puts a health program under the control of law enforcement. Is it any wonder it doesn't work and is woefully underutilized?
The Legislature needs to re-visit the law, move it out of the control of law enforcement to the health department, and provide for sensible, safe access to quality-assured medical marijuana regulated by the counties. Anything less is just a shibai, a put-on — the appearance of a medical marijuana program but not the reality. |
