Photo credit: flickr.com/40151547@N03
Although the FDA is aware that marijuana is being used successfully by many individuals to treat the symptoms of AIDS wasting, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, multiple sclerosis, and cancer, its use continues to be forbidden by the federal government.
In Massachusetts, it is legal to use and possess marijuana for medical reasons. The law is part of a state statute, entitled 105 CMR 725.000, passed by a ballot initiative and the state legislature nearly two years ago. Marijuana is approved in 25 states for medical use and in four states for recreational consumption. The list of states, where marijuana is legal, grows frequently . As regulatory landscapes loosen up, colleges struggle with how they can become more accommodating to students with disabilities.
Public schools receive money from the federal government under the stipulation that the campus has a no drug policy and the campus is kept drug free. The federal government is in complete denial about the benefits and successes of medical marijuana therapy already in progress in at least half the states in the country. As the number of states with statutes allowing patients the right to buy and in many instances, grow and keep a substantial stash of cannabis for health purposes, the federal authorities stay locked in place on the issue. In Arizona and Colorado for example, colleges struggle with the onslaught of students demanding their right to medical access.
This, according to reports, include the right to use cannabis while in class. On most college campuses, as is the case with MWCC, the use of medical marijuana is heaped in with drug use in general, and vehemently prohibited in any form, anywhere, on or off campus when attending school functions. Most schools regulate its use on campus, at school functions, in your car and some prohibit use at home.
They call it an “infraction of the student code of conduct” . When asked about knowledge of the policy on drug and alcohol use at Mount Wachusett Community College, almost all students asked were unaware of specific policy regarding the use of cannabis for health reasons.
In a relatively legally hazy atmosphere, some schools are warming up to the idea of allowing the use of marijuana treatment with a doctor’s prescription, the same way they would if the treatment were more main stream.
The idea of some universities allowing alcohol to be sold the student union on a college campus flies in the face of staunch opposition to a legitimate dose of reefer remedy. In Massachusetts, at Mt Holyoke College, according to the Hampshire Gazette, college administrators have become less skittish about the subject and are considering making accommodation for those students with disabilities needing to partake in the occasional smoking of an occasional bone for health reasons.
An enterprising start-up company in California’s San Francisco area has developed a phone app for on-demand marijuana delivery. The service connects patients with pot pharmacies, but don’t expect to see marijuana outlets sprouting up any time in the near future in Massachusetts. At an outrageous cost of initial outlay of capital nearing a half a million dollars and the manifestation of another fifty thousand dollars in fees, don’t expect to see a dispensary at the college anytime soon either.
In addition to the initial costs and associated fees, there is an annual registration of another fifty thousand dollars for renewing the dispensary license each year. The fee structure places this new business opportunity beyond the reach of most small entrepreneurs, locking out mostly all but the super-rich and politically connected pusherman. However, these huge fees will provide an inestimable boon to the nearly exhausted state coffers.
Where will all this lead us to? Are we headed in the right direction? Will college campuses have marijuana dispensaries or will this lead to drug dealing on the campus? When I reached out to the college for clarification about their drug and alcohol policy as it pertains to medical marijuana use and the new state statute, there was little information available other than that which is already in the current student manual. Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think weed has a negative effect on the brain in terms of learning ability?
By the passage of new laws in Massachusetts and elsewhere around the country, concerning medical marijuana and its use in helping thousands of disabled students and veterans cope with their physical and emotional pains and disorders, we can finally begin to have a long needed conversation about sensible drug policies in our schools and universities.
No comments:
Post a Comment