The term "Utah solution," has been used to address immigration, Medicaid expansion, and other things. Now, I wish we would come up with a Utah solution for medicinal marijuana, one that allows having it to those who benefit from the drug.
But, not to those who seek it just for recreational purposes.
It so seems there are abuses. The drug becomes so easy to obtain, those who do not need it medically slip right in and get it along with those who do. We've seen what happens in other states. Why not -- if we are to approve medicinal marijuana in Utah -- learn from what is going wrong in other states?
There is a danger in a doctor's deriving too much income from marijuana patients. If he becomes dependent on the marijuana clientele for his income, he will have incentive to grant the prescriptions whether the patient really needs them or not. His thought will be: The more patients I have, and the more I can sell, the more money I will make.
Calling him a pusher would be a little much, because he is not going out and soliciting the business. But, calling him a supplier is in order. If he were to be a supplier simply of medicinal marijuana, that would be fine.
But, he has incentive to become a supplier not just of medicinal, but of recreational Mary Jane. Now, the word "supplier" takes on much the same meaning that it has on the streets when the drug is being obtained.
Another problem? Consider on this: If a patient says he has pain, there is no disputing it. There is no such thing as a pain-o-meter. The doctor cannot place a meter on your chest and get a reading as to whether you are in pain. There's no such device. He takes the patient's word. At least, many doctors do.
So, it becomes that anyone can feign pain, go to the doctor, and say, "Give me some marijuana," and the doctor obliges.
So, it becomes that . . .
If you legalize medical marijuana, you legalize marijuana.
I have a problem with that. I hope the rest of Utah does, also. I would like to think we would want to correct the problem, if we can, to any extent. I wish we would come up with a Utah solution. I wish we would remove the danger (or try to) of doctors becoming reliant on their marijuana trade. I wish we would remove the danger (or try to) of people getting marijuana under the guise of being in pain.
I suggest a few things, and imagine others could come up with yet other ideas.
(1.) Require those dispensing the drug to meet the same educational and professional standards as pharmacists. I get it, that pharmacies would lose their license if they distributed marijuana, so that is why we have dispensaries. But, if we cannot use pharmacies, at least duplicate them as best we can.
(2.) Make it unlawful for a doctor to derive more than, say, 20 percent of his business from marijuana prescriptions.
(3.) Make it a crime to prescribe marijuana if you know the patient will just be using it for recreation. Yes, this would be hard to enforce, but at least you are making it illegal, and that will have some effect.
(4.) Make it unlawful for a patient to obtain marijuana under false pretenses, to feign a malady or to pretend pain in order to win a prescription.
(5.) Make it unlawful to fill a prescription without diagnosing a malady. And, that malady must be one that typically brings enough pain to justify a pain prescription such as marijuana.
(6.) No one-year cards, as are offered in other states. Prohibit the doctor from prescribing more medicine (marijuana) than needed for the time frame that the malady normally lasts. And, require the doctor to reevaluate the malady each time he does a refill.
If we can see things are going wrong in the other states, we shouldn't just copy their laws and make them our own. We should see the problems, and attempt to correct them. Any legislation that fails to do this, falls short of being responsible. We have values in this state, and I maintain that recreational use of marijuana is not one of them. Utah values deserve something that can be stamped as a Utah solution.
So let's provide a Utah solution.
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